BILL REQ. #:  H-0701.3 

Read first time 01/21/09.   Referred to Committee on Transportation.

     AN ACT Relating to a pilot program using automated school bus stop signal cameras; amending RCW 46.63.030 and 46.63.075; creating a new section; prescribing penalties; and providing expiration dates.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The office of the superintendent of public instruction, in conjunction with two school districts located west of the crest of the Cascade mountains, two school districts located east of the crest of the Cascade mountains, and appropriate local legislative authorities, shall establish a pilot program to evaluate the frequency of violations of RCW 46.61.370 and the deterrent effect of automated school bus stop signal cameras.
     (2) "Automated school bus stop signal camera" means a camera, synchronized to work in conjunction with a school bus stop signal, that automatically records one or more sequenced photographs, microphotographs, or electronic images of the front or the rear of a motor vehicle at the time the vehicle passes a stopped school bus on which a stop signal has been actuated.
     (3) A notice of infraction predicated upon photographs or images taken by an automated school bus stop signal camera is subject to the requirements in this subsection.
     (a) The appropriate local legislative authority must first enact an ordinance allowing for its use to detect violations of RCW 46.61.370. At a minimum, the local ordinance must contain the restrictions described in this section and provisions for public notice and signage.
     (b) All school buses equipped with an automated school bus stop signal camera shall be posted with a sign indicating the use of such a camera to enforce RCW 46.61.370.
     (c) Automated school bus stop signal cameras may only record photographs or images of the vehicle and vehicle license plate and only while the vehicle is passing a stopped school bus. Recorded photographs and images must not reveal the face of the driver or of passengers in the vehicle.
     (d) Recorded photographs and images of vehicles and vehicle license plates shall include on their face, the date and time, the speed of the school bus, and an indicator as to whether the school bus stop signal was actuated.
     (e) A notice of infraction must be mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle within fourteen days of the violation, or to the renter of a vehicle within fourteen days of establishing the renter's name and address under subsection (5)(a) of this section. The law enforcement officer issuing the notice of infraction shall include with it a certificate or facsimile thereof, based upon inspection of photographs, microphotographs, or electronic images produced by an automated school bus stop signal camera, stating the facts supporting the notice of infraction. This certificate or facsimile is prima facie evidence of the facts contained in it and is admissible in a proceeding charging a violation of RCW 46.61.370. The photographs or images evidencing the violation must be available for inspection and admission into evidence in a proceeding to adjudicate the liability for the infraction. A person receiving a notice of infraction based on evidence detected by an automated school bus stop signal camera may respond to the notice by mail.
     (f) The registered owner of a vehicle is responsible for an infraction unless the registered owner overcomes the presumption in RCW 46.63.075, or, in the case of a rental car business, satisfies the conditions under subsection (5) of this section. If appropriate under the circumstances, a renter identified under subsection (5)(a) of this section is responsible for an infraction.
     (g) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all photographs, microphotographs, or electronic images prepared under this section are for the exclusive use of law enforcement in the discharge of duties under this section and are not open to the public and may not be used in a court in a pending action or proceeding unless the action or proceeding relates to a violation under this section. No photograph, microphotograph, or electronic image may be used for any purpose other than enforcement of violations under this section nor retained longer than necessary to enforce this section.
     (h) The compensation paid to the manufacturer or vendor of the automated school bus stop signal camera used must be based only upon the value of the equipment and services provided or rendered in support of the system, and may not be based upon a portion of the fine or civil penalty imposed or the revenue generated by the equipment.
     (4) Infractions detected through the use of automated school bus stop signal cameras are not part of the registered owner's driving record under RCW 46.52.101 and 46.52.120. Additionally, infractions generated by the use of automated school bus stop signal cameras under this section shall be processed in the same manner as parking infractions, including for the purposes of RCW 3.50.100, 35.20.220, 46.16.216, and 46.20.270(3). The amount of the fine issued for an infraction generated through the use of an automated school bus stop signal camera shall not exceed the amount of a fine issued for other parking infractions within the jurisdiction. One-half of the fines collected shall be remitted to the school district.
     (5)(a) If the registered owner of the vehicle is a rental car business, the law enforcement agency shall, before a notice of infraction is issued under this section, provide a written notice to the rental car business that a notice of infraction may be issued to the rental car business if the rental car business does not, within eighteen days of receiving the written notice, provide to the issuing agency by return mail:
     (i) A statement under oath stating the name and known mailing address of the individual driving or renting the vehicle when the infraction occurred;
     (ii) A statement under oath that the business is unable to determine who was driving or renting the vehicle at the time the infraction occurred because the vehicle was stolen at the time of the infraction. A statement provided under this subsection must be accompanied by a copy of a filed police report regarding the vehicle theft; or
     (iii) In lieu of identifying the vehicle operator, the rental car business may pay the applicable penalty.
     (b) Timely mailing of this statement to the issuing law enforcement agency relieves a rental car business of any liability under this chapter for the notice of infraction.
     (6) Nothing in this section prohibits a law enforcement officer from issuing a notice of traffic infraction to a person in control of a vehicle at the time a violation occurs under RCW 46.63.030(1) (a), (b), or (c).
     (7) The automated school bus stop signal pilot program shall be conducted from January 1, 2010, through June 30, 2011. By December 1, 2011, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall report, to the appropriate committees of the legislature, its findings on the frequency of violations of RCW 46.61.370 and the deterrent effect of automated school bus stop signal cameras and its recommendations on the advisability of continuing the program and extending it to additional school districts.
     (8) This section expires December 1, 2011.

Sec. 2   RCW 46.63.030 and 2007 c 101 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) A law enforcement officer has the authority to issue a notice of traffic infraction:
     (a) When the infraction is committed in the officer's presence;
     (b) When the officer is acting upon the request of a law enforcement officer in whose presence the traffic infraction was committed;
     (c) If an officer investigating at the scene of a motor vehicle accident has reasonable cause to believe that the driver of a motor vehicle involved in the accident has committed a traffic infraction;
     (d) When the infraction is detected through the use of a photo enforcement system under RCW 46.63.160; ((or))
     (e) When the infraction is detected through the use of an automated traffic safety camera under RCW 46.63.170; or
     (f) When the infraction occurs on or before June 30, 2011, and is detected through the use of an automated school bus stop signal camera under section 1, chapter . . ., Laws of 2009 (section 1 of this act).
     (2) A court may issue a notice of traffic infraction upon receipt of a written statement of the officer that there is reasonable cause to believe that an infraction was committed.
     (3) If any motor vehicle without a driver is found parked, standing, or stopped in violation of this title or an equivalent administrative regulation or local law, ordinance, regulation, or resolution, the officer finding the vehicle shall take its registration number and may take any other information displayed on the vehicle which may identify its user, and shall conspicuously affix to the vehicle a notice of traffic infraction.
     (4) In the case of failure to redeem an abandoned vehicle under RCW 46.55.120, upon receiving a complaint by a registered tow truck operator that has incurred costs in removing, storing, and disposing of an abandoned vehicle, an officer of the law enforcement agency responsible for directing the removal of the vehicle shall send a notice of infraction by certified mail to the last known address of the person responsible under RCW 46.55.105. The notice must be entitled "Littering -- Abandoned Vehicle" and give notice of the monetary penalty. The officer shall append to the notice of infraction, on a form prescribed by the department of licensing, a notice indicating the amount of costs incurred as a result of removing, storing, and disposing of the abandoned vehicle, less any amount realized at auction, and a statement that monetary penalties for the infraction will not be considered as having been paid until the monetary penalty payable under this chapter has been paid and the court is satisfied that the person has made restitution in the amount of the deficiency remaining after disposal of the vehicle.

Sec. 3   RCW 46.63.075 and 2005 c 167 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) In a traffic infraction case involving an infraction detected through the use of a photo enforcement system under RCW 46.63.160, or detected through the use of an automated traffic safety camera under RCW 46.63.170, or detected on or before June 30, 2011, through the use of an automated school bus stop signal camera under section 1, chapter . . ., Laws of 2009 (section 1 of this act), proof that the particular vehicle described in the notice of traffic infraction was in violation of any such provision of RCW 46.63.160 or 46.63.170, or, until June30, 2011, section 1, chapter . . ., Laws of 2009 (section 1 of this act) together with proof that the person named in the notice of traffic infraction was at the time of the violation the registered owner of the vehicle, constitutes in evidence a prima facie presumption that the registered owner of the vehicle was the person in control of the vehicle at the point where, and for the time during which, the violation occurred.
     (2) This presumption may be overcome only if the registered owner states, under oath, in a written statement to the court or in testimony before the court that the vehicle involved was, at the time, stolen or in the care, custody, or control of some person other than the registered owner.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   Sections 2 and 3 of this act expire December 1, 2011.