Senate President Don Gaetz joins House Speaker Will Weatherford in welcoming a bill to repeal Florida’s controversial Red Light Camera program.
In a statement closely mirroring the Speaker’s earlier comments, Gaetz told reporters last week in a televised interview that he would support a bill revoking the state’s red-light camera law.
“I voted against red light cameras when they came up the first time,” Gaetz on The Florida Channel’s “Florida Face to Face” political talk show. “I’d vote for repeal today. I agree with the speaker.”
Last week, Weatherford told The News Service of Florida that he would support repeal, but also acknowledged that it probably would not happen in 2014.
Both Gaetz and Weatherford appeared in the interview; the Republican Speaker declared that instead of repeal, it is more likely that the Legislature will increase regulations on the use of cameras by municipalities.
“I don’t live under any illusion that we’re going to repeal red-light cameras this year,” said Weatherford. “But we ought to be able to bring some sensible regulations and some sensible policies on how and where they put these red-light cameras.”
RLCs have been a contentious issue, more so since opponents now can point to a newly released study by the Florida Legislature Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability, saying cameras are primarily for local governments to bring in revenues, and haven’t significantly reduced accidents.
Florida League of Cities, a vocal RLC supporter, has publicly doubted the fairness of the study.
