JEFFERSON CITY — The fallout from the events in Ferguson continue to be addressed by the Senate. In the aftermath it was discovered that numerous municipalities in St. Louis County had been using traffic tickets as a way to boost city revenue.
Senator Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, was a co-sponsor of a bill last year, which limited the revenue a city could generate by handing out traffic tickets. As the municipalities continue to try and find ways to ticket citizens, she is again at the forefront. Senate Bill 765 was introduced this year as another restriction on cities trying to require their employees to hand out a minimum quota of tickets.
“Senate Bill 765 is a great piece of legislation to stop cities from setting ticket quotas. I identified a remaining loophole, in that traffic enforcement employees could still have quotas,” Sen. Nasheed said. “That struck me as dead wrong. Ticket quotas are ticket quotas, regardless of whether they are being written by traffic control officers or detectives.”
Senator Nasheed was able to secure language to close the loophole in the Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 765. Senator Nasheed’s language will effectively prohibit all quota systems statewide without exception.
“I am happy to again to be working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for legislation that will help repair the community-police relationship statewide,” Sen. Nasheed said.