HB 25-1230

House Bill 25-1230 allows school districts in Colorado to install cameras on school buses that can detect when a driver overtakes a stopped school bus with its lights flashing. If a violation is detected, the authorities can fine the driver up to $300. The bill also assumes that if the camera captures evidence of the bus's stop signal being active, the bus was indeed legally stopped and discharging or receiving students. This law has been signed into practice, meaning it is now enforceable by local school districts with approval from their board of education.

Official Summary

The act permits the state, a county, a city and county, a school district, or a municipality to, with approval from a school district's board of education, install and utilize automated vehicle identification systems (system) on the school district's school buses to detect a driver of a vehicle that overtakes a stopped school bus with actuated visual signal lights in violation of current law. A school district that installs and utilizes a system for this purpose must enter into a memorandum of understanding with one or more law enforcement agencies. If a system detects a violation, the state, a county, a city and county, or a municipality may impose a civil penalty of up to $300. The act creates a rebuttable presumption that when an image produced by a system includes an electronic indicator signifying that a school bus's visual signal lights are actuated, the visual signal lights are presumed to be actuated and operational and the school bus is presumed to be stopped to receive or discharge school children. The act mandates that the fines collected through the use of the system must not be used as the basis for the compensation to the system manufacturer or vendor and that the compensation must not be based exclusively upon the number of citations issued or revenue generated by the system.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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