With an automated system that combines speed detection and automatic license plate readers ( ALPR ) to alert law enforcement to potential violations, state lawmakers are considering using technology to crack down on speeding in schools and work zones.
During a preliminary hearing on Monday, Associated General Contractors of Texas senator Clint Henson stated that in the previous year, there were more than 28, 000 significant crashes and 203 mortality in work areas.
Speeding and distracted driving, which are both generally unavoidable problems, are the leading causes of these tragedies, he said.
Henson noted that Terry Canales (D-Edinburg ), a former chair of the Transportation Committee, coauthored House Bill ( HB) 3309, which was passed by the House in a bipartisan vote but did not advance to the Senate.
In response to a Texas Transportation Code ban on towns from using “automated traffic power systems for the purpose of enforcing compliance with posted speed restrictions,” HB 3309 established an exception. The restriction would only have been in place for plainly defined construction zones.
Mobile speed detection systems may be installed in a work area in the 2025 costs, along with ALPRs, which record vehicle license plates, car details, and occasionally images of the vehicle. The system may notify law enforcement to stop possible violators and problem citations while waiting outside the construction zone.
State Representative Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park ) and 28 different legislators voted against final paragraph of the bill in 2025 after it was amended on the House floor to prevent sending citations via mail or electronic.
According to Henson, at least 35 states impose speeding laws in construction work zones through a program similar to that, and the Texas plan is based on an program carried out in Arkansas. A police officer must challenge the citation in person because the law only permits the systems on national interstate highways.
Red light cameras were prohibited in Texas in 2019 because they automatically generated citations without an official provide. Supporters of HB 3309 and other possible new policy point out that the proposed automatic enforcement systems for the school zone would require an official to cite a violator as soon as they pass through the zone.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock ) added consideration for using such systems to regulate school zones when is issuing interim charges for this year. He also advised the committee to “take measures that would safeguard Texans ‘ privacy, prohibit automated retention of data, and prevent citations from being issued by third-party entities.”
During the hearing this week, state representative Pat Curry (R-Waco ) also questioned witnesses regarding whether the system resembled an ALPR similar to that offered by Flock Safety.
This plan may not operate as a continuous monitoring system. Henson responded,” The ] devices would only be activated when an officer was essentially monitoring customers,” which is a different situation from your red light cameras and Flock devices.
” This is essentially just an extension of a tool that the local police and the Department of Public Safety ( DPS) already use to monitor speed,” he said. They are kept safe away from a design job area, he continued.
One of the 29 lawmakers who cast a ballot against HB 3309 in 2025, state representative Mitch Little (R-Lewisville ), stated to The Texan that he opposes “anything having to do with the automation of law enforcement.” Even if a police officer is required to issue the referencing, the outsourcing process involves outsourcing to a business, which is likely to get a reward for citations.
” I don’t believe that is going to make people safer,” he said. You are aware that a high-risk territory of structure exists. Law enforcement is readily available, and they can often find places to sit to watch and participate in the rate trap.
Little further explained that the technologies is” the camel’s nose under the tent,” which could encourage more and more government monitoring and law enforcement.
Cain claimed for The Texan that automatic traffic control measures are” a terrible plan” that could endanger constitutional due process rights and extend beyond just school zones and development.
The referencing relies on a “robocop,” but a human does not see the infraction, which is my issue. A human being may speak as a witness, but a machine cannot,” he claimed.
HB 3309 was opposed by a number of organizations in 2025, including Texas Policy Research ( TPR ), who claimed the measure’s guardrails were “well-intentioned but insufficient” and that the bill would “expande the legal authority of local government.”
The bill, according to the constitution, lacks any system for accountability, doesn’t offer any open oversight mechanisms, and leaves enforcement of these rules hazy and discretionary. Local governments who want to test the limits of the exception’s provisions without fear of reprisal could do so, TPR wrote in a statement on the act.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is currently running for governor as a Republican in the state of Texas, stated in an opinion that a Bexar County sheriff did not have the authority to utilize an automated traffic-enforcement system in order to issue speeding” citations by mail without connection between officers and drivers.
Canales expressed his opinion that HB 3309’s limitations may be removed in favor of use of automated systems.
” I think that instrument could also be used to assist the]DPS] get Amber Alert citizens with their panels, criminal prosecutions where we know someone is a dangerous criminal,” he said.
” I know it would probably make the act a bit harder, but I believe that we ought to be using that technology to the best of our ability to support the DPS make it a safer Texas,” he said.
