Lake County Gazette

Illinois state Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) senses his fight to ban red-light cameras across the state is picking up steam.

“I’m fighting hard to eliminate the corrupt Illinois red-light camera program,” McSweeney told the Lake County Gazette soon after the Illinois House Rules Committee passed a bill that would ban the devices statewide. “Red-light camera supporter Jim Durkin can run but he can’t hide from the citizens of Illinois.”

After passing the Rules Committee, the measure now heads to the House Transportation Committee for further consideration.

All of it is a long time coming for McSweeney, who has been pushing such legislation for what seems like forever. In early 2019, the veteran lawmaker filed House Bill 323, which sought to ban all 607 of the state’s red-light cameras.

More recently, he was one of the primary sponsors of HB 322, which would ban the cameras in non-home rule communities, or just under a hundred of the more than 600 spread across the state.

A recent Illinois Policy Institute study found that municipalities around the state collected upwards of $1 billion in revenue from the cameras over a decade-long period beginning in 2008.

Over that time, the cameras have fueled a number of federal corruption scandals, including one instance where a former state senator pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe.

“Illinois’ red-light camera program has been exposed for the corrupt money grab it is,” McSweeney added in a post to Facebook. “It’s time to ban this unethical practice in Illinois.”