(The Center Square) – A new law would give Georgia voters a say on whether they want school speed zone detection cameras, which one lawmaker said is raising millions for local governments and private companies.
House Bill 651 requires cities and counties to hold a local referendum before renewing or entering into a contract for a school speed zone camera. Voters will have to approve the cameras again every six years, according to the bill.
The legislation also limits enforcement to one hour before and after school begins and ends. Law enforcement officers can only issue tickets if drivers are going more than 10 miles per hour over the limit. The bill, which went into effect on Wednesday, waives the calibration rules that apply to speed detection devices.
Georgia lawmakers have discussed school speed zone cameras over the past three sessions before passing House Bill 651 on the final day of the 2026 session.
Rep. Dale Washburn, R-Macon, introduced a bill during the 2025 session that would have banned them altogether. The legislation was approved by the House of Representatives but didn’t make it through the Senate.
The cameras are generating $200 million in fines for local governments and $50 million for private corporations that sell and monitor them, Washburn said. RedSpeed and Blue Line Solutions, which sell the school zone cameras, did not respond to a request for an interview.
House Bill 651 was sponsored by Hartwell Republican Alan Powell, who said before the April House vote, “Let’s just get this thing out of our hair.”
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety urged Gov. Brian Kemp to veto the bill. The organization of consumer, safety, medical, public health and law enforcement groups and insurance companies said a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that the cameras reduced the likelihood of a crash by 19%.
Sen. Randy Robertson, R-Catula, chaired the Senate Public Safety subcommittee that heard more than five hours of testimony about the cameras. He said six children in Muscogee County had been hit by vehicles in school zones and four have died.
“Public safety is No. 1,” Robertson said. “We cannot take resources out of the community and set them in front of every school, every morning and every afternoon.”
The cameras are not about public safety but about money, said Augusta attorney John Bell in an interview with The Center Square. He has initiated several lawsuits over the cameras.
“Georgians have lost a lot of money, that has flowed, at least 40% of the money, to private for-profit companies that aren’t even in Georgia,” Bell said. “They aren’t in Georgia other than doing business and taking money from these Georgians.”