NASHVILLE -- Tennessee lawmakers legally can require that contracts between cities and traffic-camera surveillance companies comply with future statutory changes, but any changes must be viewed as "reasonable," State Attorney General Bob Cooper said in a new legal opinion.
"The General Assembly may constitutionally require that, as a condition to contracting with a state agency or a political subdivision ... (camera vendors) must agree to incorporate into any such contracts any subsequently enacted changes to that statute," states the opinion, requested by Rep. Vince Dean, R-East Ridge.
But the opinion also cautions "any terms that are incorporated into an existing contract due to statutory changes must be reasonable. A court would be unlikely to permit enforcement of completely unforeseeable and/or unreasonable terms inserted into an existing contract, and such terms would be subject to an attack on the basis of unconscionability."
State lawmakers are considering reining in cities' use of traffic cameras, contending local officials and companies are more interested in making money off motorists' fines than promoting safety.
Then, Red Bank officials angered many lawmakers when the city dodged anticipated restrictions by rushing into a 12-year contract extension with its camera vendor, American Traffic Solutions.
Fearful other cities would follow suit before comprehensive changes are enacted, Rep. Phillip Johnson, R-Pegram, proposed lawmakers fast-track a new law requiring cities and vendors to comply with any forthcoming regulatory changes they consider in separate legislation.
Rep. Dean, a former Chattanooga police officer and one-time East Ridge mayor, said he requested the opinion to see if Rep. Johnson's bill would be constitutional. Rep. Dean, who favors some restrictions on cities but fears the legislature may go too far, said Mr. Cooper's answer doesn't appear very clear.
"I'm not sure what reasonable means," Rep. Dean said. "I know what reasonable is to me, but I don't know what it is to someone else who's interpreting it."
It was unclear what impact it might have on Rep. Johnson's intention to move forward. Meanwhile, the comprehensive bill outlining statewide standards on use of traffic cameras remains on hold until April 1.
House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Harmon, D-Dunlap, recently directed cities and law enforcement to propose standards and rules, saying he would hold off on pushing reforms -- including a total ban on cameras -- until the April 1 deadline.