Virginia House targets speed camera ‘cash grab’

With millions flowing from speed camera fines, Virginia lawmakers are pushing to curb potential profiteering and increase public oversight of the devices. A bill to bring more transparency and accountability to speed camera operations cleared the House this week and is now headed to the Senate.

According to Virginia State Police data, the state collected nearly $24 million from speed cameras in school zones and almost $10 million from highway work zones last year. The cameras, approved by the General Assembly in 2020, were intended to reduce traffic fatalities and encourage safer driving near children and construction workers. But growing concerns over the financial windfall for local governments and law enforcement have put the program under scrutiny.

“We’re really trying to get the change in behavior, change in driving habits versus making any money off of these cameras,” Del. Holly Seibold, D-Fairfax, told The Mercury on Tuesday.

Seibold’s House Bill 2041 would require local governments to approve speed cameras through an ordinance and form a stakeholder advisory group to gather community input before installation. The proposal also mandates that at least two warning signs be placed within 1,000 feet of each camera — one of which must be a flashing feedback sign to alert drivers.

To prevent vendors from profiting directly from citations, the legislation would cap administrative fees and impose a $1,000 civil penalty for violations. Additionally, it introduces due process measures, including standardized citation information and an initial warning period: during the first 30 days of a camera’s operation, speed violators would receive warnings by mail instead of immediate fines.

Localities and law enforcement agencies would also be required to provide regular updates to the public on camera use.

Seibold said the bill will likely be revised in the Senate to allow localities to retain collections — but only for pedestrian safety improvements. Under the proposal, localities would subtract their operating costs and send the remainder to the Virginia Highway Safety Improvement Fund.

House Transportation Committee Chair Karrie Delaney, D-Fairfax, strongly backed the measure, emphasizing its primary goal: reducing speeding, accidents, and fatalities.

“I think that in order for us to promote a program, to enhance a program [and] increase access to a program that can be used for safety, and to help keep people safe on the roads, we need to make sure that we are putting in place the guardrails that are necessary to ensure that this is not a profit policing program and that there is no incentive to use these cameras to drive up revenue for localities,” Delaney said.

While previous efforts to expand speed and red-light camera enforcement failed in the House last month, Delaney said lawmakers have focused on understanding how camera programs impact safety, revenue collection, and legal procedures.

The goal, she said, is to “give localities the option to increase programs that could improve safety in their communities, while also putting around the guardrails that ensure that there’s public trust for the program, because it’s not going to be used as a policing for profit scheme.”

The bill passed the House in a ​​55-45 vote Tuesday. If approved by the Senate, it will head to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s desk for consideration. As of Wednesday evening, the Senate had not yet assigned the bill to a committee.

This article first appeared on Virginia Mercury and is republished here with permission. Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence.