The Tennessee state Senate voted unanimously yesterday to more clearly authorize cities to deploy red light cameras and speed cameras. State Senator Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) introduced the legislation which is likely to encourage dozens more cities to deploy the devices that can add millions to municipal budgets.

More than ten cities throughout the state, including Chattanooga, Kingsport and Knoxville installed ticket cameras before an intense behind-the-scenes lobbying effort secured a brief state authorization law last June. The one-sentence statute only specified that photo tickets must not carry license points. Burchett's bill will help municipalities avoid lawsuits by giving the state's blessing to existing photo ticket procedures. The single pro-motorist provision that had been part of the first draft of Burchett's bill would have required cities to send citations by certified mail to ensure that the notice was properly received. An amendment deleted that requirement, noting that cities would lose $3.06 for each ticket if the provision had survived. The Senate-passed version of the bill includes a provision that delays the imposition of unlimited late fees until 30 days after a second notice is sent by regular mail.

The measure now heads to the state House for consideration. A copy of the bill is found in a 55k PDF file at the source link below.