The House has concurred with the Senate’s amendments to HB 2384 and adopted the bill by a vote of 55-38, mostly along partisan lines. It now heads to the Governor for signature. Once signed, the bill will go into effect June 6, 2024.

Traffic safety camera bill heavily amended in Senate, returns to House for concurrence

March 1, 2024

HB 2384 continued to evolve on the Senate floor this week, receiving a striking amendment and a few amendments to the striker. As a reminder, the bill permits any city or county to authorize the use of automated traffic safety cameras, under various conditions.

The current version of the bill includes the following updates:

Penalty:

• The maximum penalty for all traffic safety camera violations is set at $145, adjusted for inflation by the Office of Financial Management every five years.
  • Jurisdictions may double this penalty amount for school speed zone infractions.
• For registered vehicle owners who are recipients of state public assistance, traffic camera-enforced infraction penalties must be reduced to 50% of the penalty for first-time traffic camera-enforced violations.
• Drivers of fire engines and ambulances are exempt from receiving an infractions.

Revenue:

• Jurisdictions with certain camera programs in place before January 1, 2024, to detect stoplight and school speed zone violations may continue to use infraction revenue as directed in the authorizing ordinance.
• A city or county that adopts a camera program after January 1, 2024, may only use revenue generated by a traffic safety camera for traffic safety purposes related to construction and preservation projects and maintenance and operations including, but not limited to, changes to physical infrastructure to slow down drivers, complete streets projects, and increasing access and safety for active transportation users and those with limited mobility.
  • For cities and counties over 10,000 in population, that funding must be, at a minimum, proportionately administered to census tracts of the city or county that have household incomes in the lowest quartile determined by the most currently available census data and areas that experience rates of injury crashes that are above average for the city or county.
  • Cities and counties under 10,000 in population must use the Dept. of Health’s health disparities map when making traffic safety activity investments using traffic safety camera revenue.
• After a new traffic safety camera is placed and in use for four years, 25% of camera revenues, after camera administration and infraction processing costs, must be deposited into the Cooper Jones active transportation safety account (with some exceptions).

Other:

• If the current contract between a jurisdiction and a camera equipment manufacturer or vendor is silent on maintaining image quality control measures, the jurisdiction must conduct a performance audit of the manufacturer or vender every three years to ensure camera image quality.
• A jurisdiction’s analysis to determine locations for cameras must include information regarding travel by vulnerable road users, in addition to several other criteria.

Note that the current statute authorizing cities to use safety cameras, RCW 46.63.170, is repealed by the bill. The new authorizing language in HB 2384 will create new authorizing statutes if the bill is passed. If your city currently uses traffic safety cameras and the city ordinance references RCW 46.63.170, the city may need to review any references to statutes and update the ordinance accordingly.

HB 2384 was adopted by the Senate by a vote of 26-23. It now returns to the House, where the chamber will decide whether to concur with the Senate version.

If the bill passes the Legislature and is signed into law, AWC will publish a full summary of the final version.

Traffic safety camera proposal refined, fleshed out as it passed off House floor and into opposite chamber

February 14, 2024

HB 2384 saw a good deal of action on the House floor last week, when a striking amendment (removing everything after the title and inserting a whole new bill) was adopted along with several smaller amendments. The new version of the bill largely maintains the provisions in the prior versions, with a few key updates, including the following:

• When a vehicle fails to come to a required stop, automated traffic safety cameras may be used to detect stoplight violations in certain intersections and railroad grade crossing violations.
• Traffic safety cameras may also be used to detect speed violations within:
  • Hospital speed zones;
  • Public park speed zones;
  • School speed zones;
  • School walk zones;
    • Defined as all roadways within a 1-mile radius of a school that students use to travel to school by foot, bicycle, or other means of active transportation.
  • Work zones on city streets;
    • Defined as an area of any city or county roadway with construction, maintenance, or utility work occurring for at least 30 calendar days.
      • Workers must be present in a work zone for notices of infraction to be issued.
  • State highways within city limits that are classified as city streets.
    • A city government must notify WSDOT when the city installs a traffic camera on state highways also classified as city streets.
• Before installing or relocating a traffic safety camera, a jurisdiction must prepare an analysis of the proposed location for the camera that includes a demonstrated need based on rates of collision and documented near collisions, and ineffectiveness or infeasibility of other mitigation measures.
• A city or county may only use revenue generated by a traffic safety camera for traffic safety purposes.
  • That funding must be, at a minimum, proportionately administered to census tracts of the city or county that have household incomes in the lowest quartile, as determined by the most currently available census data, and areas that experience rates of injury crashes that are above average for the city or county.
• An employee of a local public works or transportation department may review infractions detected by a traffic camera and issue notices of infraction.
  • These employees must be sufficiently trained and certified to do such work by qualified peace officers or by traffic engineers employed in the jurisdiction's public works or transportation department.
• The maximum penalty traffic camera violations, other than red-light violations, is two-thirds the fine for a violation of an unscheduled infraction as set by the Washington Supreme Court (currently $145).

AWC continues to be a strong supporter of HB 2384. Allowing cities to utilize traffic safety cameras to detect speed violations in city work zones, on city streets, and in public transit lanes means lives will be saved. Additionally, allowing cities to use a portion of the ticketing revenues for traffic safety improvements means cities can move closer towards their Vision Zero goals.

HB 2384 as amended passed off the House Floor last week and now heads to the opposite chamber for consideration.

Traffic safety camera proposal picks up equity amendments and other improvements

February 9, 2024

While SB 5959 no longer lives, it’s companion bill, HB 2384, is now the vehicle carrying this years automated traffic safety camera proposal. As often happens, the House version started out identical to the Senate bill, and followed its own path through its chamber, picking up amendments as it went.

The following are among the changes adopted to the bill in Committee:

• Traffic camera use is authorized in work zones, defined as an area of any city or county roadway with construction, maintenance, or utility work occurring for at least 30 calendar days.
• The types of roadways on which cities and counties are authorized to use automated traffic safety cameras are clarified to be city roadways, county roadways, and state highways classified as city streets.
• The population threshold required for cities to use traffic cameras is reduced from 90,000 or more residents to 10,000 or more residents.
• Training of non-commissioned officers and designated public employees may be carried out by cities, counties, or local law enforcement.
• The use of revenue generated by traffic cameras in a city or county must include the use of revenue in overburdened communities that is, at a minimum, proportionate to the share of populations who are residents of these communities in the city or county.
• Traffic camera-enforced infraction penalties must be reduced to 25% of the penalty for registered owners of vehicles who are recipients of state public assistance.

AWC continues to support the bill and is working with the bill sponsor to refine the bill, particularly the language related to overburdened communities.

The Senate version was also amended in Committee before it failed to pass the cutoff deadline. Some of those proposed changes may be included in negotiations of the House proposal and could be picked up in the House bill as it makes its way through the Legislature.

HB 2384 passed out of the House Transportation Committee last week on a vote of 19-10. It now awaits a vote on the House Floor.

Cities could see expanded authority to employ automated traffic safety cameras per a new bill from the Traffic Safety Commission

January 12, 2024

A new bipartisan bill would expand local authority to use automated traffic safety cameras, retain revenues for use on local traffic safety projects, and reduce administrative burdens on city and county staff.

In the midst of a vexing, continuously downward trend in traffic safety in Washington, SB 5959 (companion to HB 2384) aims to reverse the trend by building on 2022 legislation that expanded local government authority to use traffic safety cameras. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Marko Liias (D–Edmonds), has introduced the bill per the request of state Traffic Safety Commission.

SB 5959 explicitly authorizes cities and counties to use traffic safety cameras and eliminates existing requirements tied to their use.

The bill removes the requirement that locals share the revenues from safety camera fines with the state. While locals are authorized to keep the revenues, they are required to use the funding on traffic safety purposes, such as complete streets projects, changes to infrastructure to reduce speeding, and for the cost of operating and maintaining the cameras and issuing infractions. Cities and counties are also required to report to the state on how they spend the funding.

Of particular interest to locals as of late, given the workforce shortage of law enforcement officers across Washington, the bill authorizes non-commissioned officers and public employees with appropriate training to review infractions detected by a traffic safety camera and to issue notices of infractions. This would free up commissioned officers to dedicate their working hours to more pressing public safety matters.

Finally, the bill expands where cities may use the cameras to include state routes that are not freeway-limited access highways. Currently, authorized locations are stoplights, rail crossings, hospital speed zones, public park speed zones, and school zones. It also allows cities with a population of 90,000 or more to use safety cameras to detect several violations not previously authorized by law.

SB 5959 is welcomed news to locals as it would support cities in building their infrastructure and workforces, at a time when funding is scarce. AWC supports the bill.

Date to remember

SB 5959 is scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee on Monday, January 15 at 4 pm.