THE FOLLOWING IS FROM MICHIGAN CAPITOL CONFIDENTIAL AND CLARIFIES SENATOR JONES POSITION  ON THE BILLS THAT WERE INTRODUCED:

Sen. Virgil Smith, D-Detroit, introduced Senate Bill 1063 on Sept. 16 and managed to get just one co-sponsor, Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge. Sen. Jones, who strongly opposed the red light camera legislation, told Capitol Confidential that he signed on as co-sponsor of Senate Bill 1063 based on how it was verbally described to him by Senator Smith.

“This bill was described to me as being limited to allowing the cameras at school crossings,” he said. “You know — the kind that have the yellow caution lights, and only during school hours. Also, I was told it would include a three-county pilot program to test it out.”

“I signed on to this bill because it was presented to me as something to protect the safety of children,” Sen. Jones continued. “But if there is anything in this bill that expands on what was described to me, and the bill was brought up on the Senate floor, I would stand-up and have my name removed as a co-sponsor and oppose the bill. I can say, however, that that will never happen. I know that won’t happen because I have checked and this bill is not going to come up – it is not going to move.”

In point of fact, the legislation is very different from what Sen. Jones said Sen. Smith described to him.
