Not so fast
Red light camera fight speeding toward a courtroom collision, not the ballot box
There's one thing supporters on both sides of the red light camera issue agree: This is a fight that will see the inside of a courtroom before it sees a ballot.
With the delivery on Monday of 31,000 signatures to city hall by Citizens Against Red Light Cameras, led by Paul and Michael Kubosh, legal maneuvering began in earnest to determine whether the issue could legally be set before the voters.
According to Jim McGrath with Keep Houston Safe, a pro-camera organization, there are two legal issues that could prevent the initiative from being set before the voters.
McGrath says that the camera issue qualifies as a referendum election to ban or repeal a city ordinance, which according to law must have petitions completed within 30 days of enacting that law. Since the red light cameras have been in operation since 2006, McGrath says that to bring it forward now would constitute an illegal referendum.
The second issue regards the timing of the petition delivery. McGrath cites a new rule in the Texas Election Code requiring the city council to verify and call the election 70 days before the vote — Aug. 24 this year. Based on the time it took to verify signatures for another petition this summer — three weeks for Renew Houston — McGrath says the city secretary would not have time to verify the signatures by the due date.
"They are basically trying to throw every law against the wall and see what sticks," says Paul Kubosh, who says there have been charter amendments filed as late as October for a November vote.
Both Kubosh and McGrath confirmed to CultureMap that if the ruling by the city on allowing the vote did not go their way, they would be bringing legal action.
"We've got two key legal issues here and if the city was to bow to political pressure to go against that, we would take action," McGrath says.
"I knew it would go to court before I even created the PAC," Kubosh says. "The city is invested in these cameras. I'm hopeful that it will still be on the ballot in November, but regardless, I'm all in. I have 31, 000 people behind me and they cannot keep the citizens of Houston from voting."
