For all the latest developments in Congress, follow WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Mitchell Miller at Today on the Hill.
The House Oversight Committee advanced a GOP bill on Wednesday that would get rid of D.C. traffic camera enforcement that annually brings in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the District.
The committee approved the legislation on a 21-19 party line vote.
The legislation is sponsored by Rep. Scott Perry, a Republican who represents Pennsylvania’s 10th District.
“The residents and commuters of Washington are both sick and tired of being fleeced for hundreds of dollars of petty, automated traffic fines, all in the name of alleged safety,” Perry said.
His bill would also disallow D.C. from posting signs prohibiting right turns on red light signals.
Perry said it is unfair for drivers who aren’t familiar with the local law to face tickets for right turns that are made legally in their home states.
But D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said Perry’s bill is yet another effort by Republicans to micromanage the District.
She pointed out that Republicans have been trying to eliminate the District’s traffic enforcement system for more than a decade.
After the vote, she released a statement criticizing what she called a “paternalistic, undemocratic and, frankly, petty bill” to overturn D.C. traffic laws.
“The hypocrisy behind this legislation is astounding,” Norton said, noting that Perry is from a state that uses automated traffic enforcement extensively.
DC mayor says traffic cameras make city streets safer
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser released a statement this week before the legislation was brought up in the House committee, noting that traffic fatalities fell last year by 52% to their lowest level since 2014.
“This progress was made possible through a broad strategy to both deter dangerous driving and hold reckless drivers accountable — a strategy that also includes infrastructure upgrades, targeted law enforcement efforts and strengthened accountability,” she said.
Automated traffic enforcement brought in $267 million in revenue for the District last year.
While the legislation to end traffic camera enforcement has moved forward in Congress, it still has a long way to go before becoming law. The House would need to approve the bill, sending it to the Senate.
The legislation would likely hit a roadblock there, in the form of a Democratic filibuster.
Sixty votes would be needed to advance the bill in the Senate.
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