The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the state can cut funding to certain communities using traffic cameras. But the ruling may not have much of an effect.
The high court overturned a trial court’s ruling holding the state in contempt for putting into the last budget a requirement to cut funding to cities that were not complying with a 2015 state traffic camera law. Part of that law was later found unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court agreed with Michael Hendershot from the attorney general’s office, who argued the case in April.
“The idea that any trial court can tell the Assembly not to legislate, I think, is a fairly shocking proposition,” says Hendershot.
The case came out of Toledo. A spokesman for the Ohio Municipal League says the ruling means communities can continue their challenge of the constitutionality of the camera law, and it won’t affect those who want to start or restart camera programs.
