House Bill 3903 would ban automatic traffic enforcement companies or their officers from donating to candidates for public office at the state and local level. It would also prevent state and local government officials from accepting jobs or contracts with those companies while in office or for two years after leaving office, a kind of"revolving door" ban.
Rep. Patrick Windhorst, a Metropolis Republican, called the two-year revolving door ban"a good step." by signing up you agree to our terms of service The measure would also require that local governments review the safety impacts of automated enforcement systems every two years. Local governments would also have the sole authority to decide to issue tickets, ending their current ability to delegate that decision to the red-light and speed camera companies they contract with.
The late Sen. Martin Sandoval, another Chicago Democrat, also admitted to accepting bribes from the company and falsifying tax returns in 2020. Sandoval died of COVID-19 complications later that year while he was awaiting sentencing.
In 2016, former assistant Chicago transportation commissioner John Bills was convicted of accepting lavish gifts and $600,000 in exchange for pushing the city to accept contracts from the red-light camera company Redflex. Bills received a 10-year prison sentence, the longest sentence so far handed down to an Illinois official in connection with a red-light camera company. Federal prison records show he's moved on to a halfway house.