Seattle Time columnist Danny Westneat isn’t letting go of the stoplight camera issue. He informs us that the state law enacted in 2005 that
authorized stoplight cameras limits the fines that can be assessed to no more than what can be assessed for a parking ticket. At least one sponsor of the bill expected the fines to be lower than the prevailing $124 to $189 range. Westneat quotes Senator Mary Margaret Haugen saying the following when she introduced the amendment limiting fines to parking ticket levels:
“I know that some people would perceive that a local government would use this as a cash cow,” she said. “That is not our intention at all … What this amendment does is it restricts them, so that they cannot have a fine higher than their parking violations.
“Which is about — the state recommends $20. The idea is to change behavior, not collect a lot of money.
Of course, it’s the words of the statute, not a legislator’s intent, that matters. Legislation has consequences. It’s difficult, if not impossible to determine all of the effects. Which is a good reason to “proceed with caution.”