Full Text of SR0314 98th General Assembly
SR0314 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Current law authorizes the use of cameras at red | 3 | | lights in the counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, Madison, | 4 | | McHenry, St. Clair, and Will and the municipalities located | 5 | | within those counties; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Redflex Traffic Systems Inc., an Australian | 7 | | company, is the international manufacturer of "red light" | 8 | | cameras; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, Redflex operates red light cameras in 38 Illinois | 10 | | municipalities; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Redflex operates 384 red light cameras in the City | 12 | | of Chicago alone; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, Red light cameras have generated more than $300 | 14 | | million in revenue for the City of Chicago since 2003; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Redflex has collected more than $100 million in | 16 | | revenue from its contract with the City of Chicago; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, In late 2010, Redflex executives were implicated | 18 | | in a bribery scandal in Chicago; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Following up on a letter from a whistleblower, the | 2 | | Chicago Tribune reported that a Redflex "consultant" had been | 3 | | making improper payments to a City of Chicago transportation | 4 | | official who was responsible for overseeing the awarding of | 5 | | contracts for the installation and operation of Chicago's | 6 | | widely-criticized red light camera system; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, An investigation by the City of Chicago, delivered | 8 | | to the Redflex board in February of 2013, found that Redflex | 9 | | paid $2.03 million in potential bribes to city officials; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, The investigation found that Redflex's president | 11 | | had knowledge of the arrangement and had lied to Chicago's | 12 | | administration about the extent of the wrongdoing; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, The Chicago Tribune is proclaiming that the | 14 | | Redflex bribery scandal "would rank among the largest in the | 15 | | annals of Chicago corruption"; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson has stated that | 17 | | the Inspector General's Office has "found a lack of basic | 18 | | record keeping and an alarming lack of analysis for an ongoing | 19 | | program that costs tens of millions of dollars a year and | 20 | | generates tens of millions more in revenue"; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, Courts in several states, including Ohio and |
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| 1 | | Minnesota, have ruled that red light cameras are an | 2 | | unconstitutional violation of due process; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, A federal judge ruled that the City of Minneapolis | 4 | | must pay $2.6 million dollars in restitution to anyone who | 5 | | received a red light camera citation, due to the | 6 | | unconstitutionality of red light cameras; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, There exists public backlash over the use of red | 8 | | light cameras, due to the blatant revenue grab involved in | 9 | | using these cameras despite the presence of constitutional | 10 | | issues; therefore, be it
| 11 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL | 12 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we strongly urge any | 13 | | municipality operating the unconstitutional red light cameras | 14 | | to remove them immediately; and be it further
| 15 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the Securities and Exchange | 16 | | Commission, the Illinois Attorney General, the United States | 17 | | Attorney of the Northern District of Illinois, and the States | 18 | | Attorneys of Cook, Lake, Kane, St. Clair, Madison, and McHenry | 19 | | Counties to conduct similar investigations into the misconduct | 20 | | of Redflex; suitable copies of this resolution are to be | 21 | | delivered to these entities; and be it further |
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, That, in the interest of justice, we strongly | 2 | | urge all relevant entities to void all tickets issued in | 3 | | Chicago, the surrounding collar counties, and Madison and St. | 4 | | Clair counties ab initio due to criminal activity and issue | 5 | | refunds for the fines to the citizens who paid them.
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