The Mass. State House Has One More Day to Pass Bus Lane Enforcement Legislation

Last week, the Massachusetts Senate approved “An Act relative to bus lane enforcement,” a bill that would allow public transit agencies to use bus-mounted cameras to record and issue fines against illegal parking in bus lanes and bus stops.

But with hours to go until August 1 and the end of the legislative session, the measure will die without another approval from the House, whose notoriously secretive leaders have given no indication whether they’ll even allow a vote on the bill.

Senate bill 2884 is a revised version of a bill we covered earlier this spring, An Act Enhancing School Bus Safety, which would have authorized the installation of automated enforcement cameras on both school buses and transit vehicles.

That bill sat in the Senate Ways and Means Committee for over four months until last Monday, when that committee sent its recommended version of the bill – which stripped out the language concerning school buses – to the full Senate.

Then, during a brief session on July 22 presided by Sen. Nick Collins of South Boston, the Senate dispatched the amended bill with a second and third reading and an approval by a voice vote, without a roll call.

Waiting on Rep. Michlewitz and the House

The bill now awaits action from the House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Rep. Aaron Michlewitz of Boston. Michlewitz’s district encompasses downtown Boston, the North End, and part of the South End.

If Rep. Michlewitz does not allow a favorable report on the bill from his committee, the bill will die with the end of the legislative session, which comes at midnight on August 1.

StreetsblogMASS reached out to Rep. Michlewitz’s office on Tuesday morning for comment, and we will update this story if he responds.

The bill that the Senate passed would broadly treat bus lane and bus stop violations like parking tickets (which are already enforceable with cameras) and authorize transit agencies to use bus-mounted cameras to issue small fines.

The bill sets a minimum fine of $25, and a maximum of $125 for bus lane violations, and a flat $100 fine for bus stop violations.

It also specifies that bus lane and bus stop violations caught on camera would be exempt from a driver’s motor vehicle operating record, and wouldn’t be considered “moving violations” that would affect insurance premiums.