Speedy drivers and red light runners cruising down state highways wouldn’t have to watch out for those white photo radar boxes and flashes of light anymore if a bill approved by the House on Monday becomes law.

Gov. Jan Brewer in 2009 decided not to renew the state contract for photo enforcement cameras on state highways, but the decision didn’t bar local municipalities from signing their own contracts for the cameras on the portion of state highways that run through their town.

Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko of Glendale sponsored the HB2477 to ensure municipalities are using the cameras to ensure safety on the roads, and not to increase their revenues.

“(The bill) does not ban photo radar, but it does require cities to prove that there is a public safety reason to put photo radar cameras on state highways. And for the many people who thought we banned photo radar on state highways, we did not. The governor just didn’t renew the contract,” she said during debate on the bill.

Lesko’s HB2477, which passed through the House with 47 lawmakers in favor and 12 against, would prohibit municipalities from placing a photo enforcement system on a state highway unless the municipality provides adequate proof to the Department of Transportation that the system is necessary for public safety, and the municipality obtains a permit for use of a right-of-way.

The bill would also require ADOT to publish on its website the specific information it needs to determine if the photo enforcement system is necessary for the public safety of this state. Those requirements include current operational speed studies, including the average number of vehicles operating per day on that section of state highway and the percentage of those vehicles that speed, and reports of motor vehicle accidents on the section of state highway.

The bill would limit contracts with photo radar companies to three years, and require ADOT approval for any renewal of contracts or permits, though existing photo radar systems would need approval only when the contract goes up for renewal.

Democratic Rep. Chad Campbell of Phoenix voted against the bill, saying it takes away municipalities’ ability to make their own decisions about what to do with photo radar cameras.

Regulating photo radar has become a perennial issue at the Legislature.  Several bills on the matter have been introduced this year, to varying degrees of success. HB2579, which would have prohibited state agencies and local authorities from using photo radar, was voted down in the House Transportation Committee. HB2292, which would require law enforcement agencies issuing a traffic ticket from photo radar to serve the offender between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., was approved by the full House and now awaits a committee hearing in the Senate.