With the Republican Governor and Legislature committed to stripping Democratic dominated big cities of their power and influence, Tea Party groups say another item should be placed on the agenda for this month's special session of the Legislature--banning 'red light cameras.'
Tea Party leader Kelly Cannon says the cameras, which photograph the license plates of people running stop lights and mail a ticket to the vehicle's registered owner, are a violation of due process.
"They cannot claim that you were actually running a red light, they can only claim that your car was," Cannon told News Radio 1200 WOAI. "I don't know about you, but when was the last time you saw an actual car receive a ticket."
Cities like Balcones Heights, which operate red light cameras, say they are a use of technology to help them enforce the law. As to the due process argument, they say a red light camera ticket is a 'civil violation,' like a parking ticket, so due process does not apply. They point out that parking tickets are also given 'to the car' regardless of whether it was the registered owner or not who parked illegally.
Several of the measures on the agenda for the upcoming session are specifically geared toward stripping power away from large urban areas like San Antonio.
As the state as a whole, led by suburbs, has tended to drift conservative over the past decade, the big cities are actually becoming more liberal.
So the state is using a doctrine called 'pre-emption' to try to limit the power of the cities, on the grounds that they are infringing on personal liberties, creating a 'nanny state' and spending too much money
.Among the proposals already on the agenda that would limit the power of cities are measures to restrict cities' ability to annex property, incease property taxes, approve 'non discrimination ordinances' and to require permits for property owners to cut down trees.