Final Reading: Senators consider pilot of speed enforcement cameras

Take it slow — or smile for the camera!

A bill working its way through the Senate would allow the state Agency of Transportation to pilot speed enforcement cameras on Vermont highways. The systems would gauge how fast a car is going and automatically snap a photo if the driver is significantly exceeding the posted limit.

S.184 would allow the cameras to be placed around highway work zones, with a goal of making conditions safer for road crews. Several other states already have such camera programs in place, according to a 2022 legislative report — and they’ve been shown to reduce drivers’ speeds.

“I think it’s a way to make our roads more intelligent, and also drive safer driving,” said Sen. Thomas Chittenden, D-Chittenden Southeast, who’s sponsoring the bill.

So how would it work? According to the bill, the cameras would be triggered only if a car was exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 mph. The technology would identify a car’s license plate number from the images it captures, which officials could then use to issue a civil citation.

Drivers would get a warning for their first offense, an $80 fine for a second offense and a $160 fine for any subsequent offense within a year, according to the text of the bill.

The bill would also create a way to challenge those fines if a person could show that they were not driving their car — and, thus, the one speeding — when a photo was captured.

As introduced, S.184 had a broader scope that would have allowed officials to pilot speed cameras on local roads, too. But Chittenden said lawmakers narrowed the lens after hearing concerns that the technology could be deployed inequitably.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, for one, told senators earlier this year that use of the devices could perpetuate racial disparities in traffic enforcement if they were used more heavily in certain parts of a given city or town.

Chittenden added that he thinks a narrow pilot of the cameras — which the bill states should be used only when it’s “impractical or unsafe” to employ existing law enforcement resources or traffic calming measures — would ease the introduction of the technology. That might alleviate concerns that the cameras are a violation of a driver’s privacy, he said.

The bill also calls for images of a car to be “destroyed” after a year, or as soon as a complaint is resolved. The images would also, notably, be exempted from the state’s Public Records Act.

S.184 cleared Senate Transportation earlier this month and is now in Senate Finance, where members expect to vote on it tomorrow.

— Shaun Robinson

In the know

State officials revealed plans Wednesday to stand up four mass homeless shelters within the next three days.

The shelters are slated to be ready by the time winter-weather eligibility for the state’s motel shelter program shifts on Friday. Monthlong vouchers provided during the winter will end March 15, and after that, people must reapply for a room on a night-by-night basis, based on strict weather-dependent criteria.

Many households should be able to remain in their rooms longer, however. Before they went home for Town Meeting Day, lawmakers passed an extension to the motel program, stipulating that anyone who entered the program under the Adverse Weather Policy — yet also qualifies as vulnerable or having experienced a catastrophic life event — should be able to remain until June 30.

On the move

Despite weeks of objecting to the Legislature’s proposal to spend millions more state dollars in the next three months, Republican Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday signed into law this year’s mid-year budget update, called the Budget Adjustment Act.

The BAA, as it is called in shorthand, is an annual affair which balances the state budget through the conclusion of the current fiscal year on June 30. This year’s bill, H.839, was shaped by hot debates over state aid to flooded municipalities, the future of the state’s emergency motel housing program and concerns over giving private organizations direct access to public after-school program funding.

Scott signed the spending plan into law Wednesday afternoon, he said in a press release, “because of important initiatives included, some of which are time sensitive.”

“However,” he added, “I’m deeply concerned this bill exceeds my proposed budget adjustment by almost $15 million. As the House Appropriations Chair has said herself, this leaves a $15 million gap in the fiscal year 2025 budget.”

On the campaign trail

U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., is officially running for reelection.

In an email to supporters on Monday, Balint campaign manager Natalie Silver wrote, “we are doing this thing again!” She continued, “I’m guessing this isn’t coming as a surprise, but Becca is officially running for re-election.”

It’s unclear whether Balint will face competition as she seeks a second two-year term in the House. The deadline to file as a major-party candidate is in late May. The Democratic primary election is in August and the general election in November.