Georgia Houses adds traffic cameras to Senate's job-training bill

Legislation for automated speed traps in school zones seemed dead but got a new life in the General Assembly Tuesday.

House Bill 458 allows jurisdictions to police school speed zones with speed-detecting traffic cameras instead of just traffic cops.

"The whole concept of this bill is to slow folks down going through school zones," said Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, the chief author, who lamented the bill's fate in a Senate committee. "It's been lingering there."

Because the Senate wouldn't release it for a floor vote, the House gave it a ride on a priority of Lieutenant Gov. Casey Cagle that had already passed the Senate and was in the House for final approval. The chief of the Senate is said to back Senate Bill 3, also known as The CONNECT Act, which provides for internships and other career-oriented learning, plus industry credentials, for high school students.

By a vote of 129-38, the House tacked HB 458 onto SB 3, and then passed the new package by a vote of 152-18.

The two-headed bill now must return to the Senate, where it can be passed as is or with the amendment stripped, in which case it would bounce back across the net to the House.

Cagle’s office had no comment.

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