House committee advances SB 152 to tighten rules for automated speed enforcement

The Housing and Local Government Committee voted 11–2 to advance Senate Bill 152 as amended, a measure sponsors said will clarify how automated speed-enforcement systems operate in Colorado and reduce the financial incentives that can lead to revenue-driven ticketing.

Sponsor Representative Barone summarized the bill as an effort to ensure automated enforcement “is focused on public safety, not revenue generation,” outlining requirements he said would boost transparency, including larger signage, a 30-day public-notice period before systems go live and a written-warning period before citations are issued.

The bill raises minimum lettering on signs from 2.5 inches to 3 inches, requires municipalities to post advance notice online and on social media, mandates written warnings during a system’s first 30 days of operation and establishes a clear process for owners to contest violations or show they were not the driver. It also directs that vendor contracts use a flat monthly fee rather than per-ticket compensation to remove incentives tied to citation volume.

Sponsors said SB 152 preserves the automated-enforcement framework created by earlier legislation but corrects gaps they said had led to abuses in some towns. Representative Wilford, a co-prime sponsor, described structured thresholds for enforcement and penalties and said the measure keeps low-level first offenses in a warning tier while aligning higher tiers with predictable penalties and an inflation-adjusted schedule beginning in 2035.

Opponents and municipal representatives supported many guardrails but urged changes. Deb Stables, testifying for the Colorado Municipal League, said municipalities back transparency and accountability but warned the bill, as drafted, would remove the ability to pursue criminal misdemeanor charges for extreme speeding captured by cameras. “Removing this authority will weaken enforcement and send the wrong message about the seriousness of extreme speeding,” Stables said, urging an amendment to preserve local criminal enforcement for violations exceeding 25 miles per hour over posted limits.

Heather Stauffer, speaking for the City of Boulder, said the bill’s civil penalty cap for the most dangerous speeding would prevent use of automated data to pursue criminal reckless-driving charges. She told the committee the effect on Boulder would be that “the most that driver receives is a $120 ticket in the mail” even when the conduct meets the legal definition of reckless driving.

Fran (Lance) Lanzer of The White Line, a cycling-safety nonprofit, urged support for SB 152 as a safety tool that reduces incentives for ticket volume, praising the flat vendor rate and the creation of a distinct penalty tier for speeds 25 mph or more over posted limits. A self-represented commenter, who identified as Lucky 225, warned that some owner-affidavit provisions that shift burdens could raise constitutional concerns and called for clearer calibration and discovery rules for photo-radar evidence.

The committee adopted three sponsor amendments (L16, L17 and L18). L16 allows existing vendor contracts to continue until their scheduled expiration to avoid immediate renegotiation; L17 preserves compatibility with existing school-bus camera vendor arrangements from prior legislation; and L18 is a technical fix adding leased vehicles to the bill’s coverage. Each amendment passed without objection.

Vice Chair Stewart moved to advance SB 152 to the committee of the whole with a favorable recommendation; the motion passed on a roll call with the committee reporting an 11–2 vote.

What happens next: the bill will be considered by committee of the whole, where additional debate or floor amendments are possible before any final House vote.