It’s clear that House Bill 1098 could never be accused of blowing through a red light or speeding on its way to a committee hearing.

More than three months after the bill was introduced, the House Appropriations Committee Friday morning passed the measure with the help of Rep. Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont. It now goes to the entire House for debate.

The bill bans local governments from using automated vehicle-identification systems to pinpoint the owners of vehicles suspected of violating traffic laws where red-light cameras or photo radar are in operation. The are some exceptions, such as for tolling.

Some lawmakers would rather have a study than a ban.

Rep. Steve Humphrey, R-Severance, offered to amend his bill when it goes to the entire House to allow local municipalities to vote on the issue, which swayed Singer to vote for the measure. Without Singer’s “yes” vote in Appropriations, the bill would have died.

“I don’t want to just turn red-light cameras off,” Singer said. “This would give cities a chance to keep using them while making the case to their voters.”

Also Friday, two Arapahoe County senators, Democrat Morgan Carroll and Republican David Balmer, introduced a bill similar to Humphrey’s amendment. Senate Bill 276 not only requires a citizens’ vote to keep using photo radar and red-light cameras, it strips federal highway funds from local governments that do not hold an election before 2017.

House Bill 1098 is sponsored by Republicans but has enough Democratic co-sponsors in both chambers to ensure its passage, which might be why the bill has been stalled for weeks. It was introduced on Jan. 15 and heard by the House Transportation Committee on Feb. 25, which passed the measure and sent it to the Appropriations Committee.

Humphrey and the other chief sponsor, Rep. Kevin Van Winkle, R-Highlands Ranch, then waited. And waited. And waited for a hearing. And finally on Thursday the Appropriations chairman, Rep. Dave Young, D-Greeley, scheduled the bill to be heard Friday.

Why the delay?

“We have a busy calendar,” Young said, pointing out that the first bill introduced in the House this year didn’t even pass out of the chamber until this week.

But Young admitted he’s not a fan of the measure and he’s not alone. Several police and city officials and a district attorney testified against the bill, saying the cameras help reduce accidents, but others complain cities are using them as cash cows.

Under the program, a picture is snapped of an offending driver and the license plate on the vehicle. Government entities then use vehicle-identification programs to track down the owner of the car, and send a copy of the photo and notice of a fine.

Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, said the cameras are an issue statewide.

“We need to make sure that we have evidence-based practices to support their continued use and a demonstrated record of public safety associated with them,” he said. “That’s what we’re looking for right now. This bill doesn’t get us there. There may be a discussion about whether we should study this.”

The other Democratic representatives who have signed on as co-sponsors are Tracy Kraft-Tharp of Arvada, Angela Williams of Denver and Steve Lebsock and Joe Salazar, both of Thornton.

During the transportation hearing, Kraft-Tharp and Rep. Jovan Melton, D-Aurora, voted with Republicans for the bill.

The Democratic senators who are co-sponsors are Carroll, Lucia Guzman of Denver and Cheri Jahn of Wheat Ridge.

Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327, lbartels@denverpost.com or twitter.com/lynn_bartels