Texas lawmakers are once again considering whether technology should play a larger role in catching drivers who speed through construction zones — and this time, school zones could be included as well.
The proposal would pair mobile speed-detection equipment with automatic license plate readers, or ALPRs, to identify suspected speeders and alert law enforcement officers stationed nearby. Unlike the red-light camera systems Texas banned in 2019, the proposed system would still require an officer to stop the driver and issue a citation in person.
Supporters say the technology could help protect road crews and motorists while keeping officers out of dangerous construction areas. Critics argue it would open the door to greater automation of law enforcement and government surveillance.
The issue came before the Texas House Transportation Committee during an interim hearing Monday.
Clint Henson, president of the Associated General Contractors of Texas, told lawmakers that more than 28,000 serious crashes occurred in work zones last year, resulting in 203 deaths.
“The leading cause of these tragedies [is] speeding and distracted driving; both largely preventable issues,” Henson said.
The Legislature considered a similar proposal during the 2025 session.
House Bill 3309, authored by former House Transportation Committee Chairman Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, would have carved out an exception to state law prohibiting municipalities from using automated traffic-control systems to enforce posted speed limits.
The exception would have applied only in clearly marked construction zones.
Under the legislation, mobile speed-detection equipment could have been deployed alongside ALPR technology capable of capturing license plates and other vehicle information. When the system detected a potential violation, it would alert officers positioned outside the construction zone, allowing them to stop the driver and potentially issue a ticket.
The House approved HB 3309 with bipartisan support, but the legislation stalled in the Senate.
During debate on the House floor, state Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, successfully amended the legislation to prohibit citations from being sent through the mail or electronically. Cain ultimately joined 28 other House members in voting against the bill.
Henson told lawmakers that at least 35 states use similar technology to enforce speed limits in construction zones. The Texas proposal was modeled in part on an Arkansas program that permits the technology on federal interstate highways while requiring an officer to issue any citation in person.
That distinction is significant in Texas, where lawmakers have previously moved to restrict automated traffic enforcement.
In 2019, the state banned red-light cameras, which photographed suspected violations and generated citations without requiring an officer to personally stop the driver.
Supporters of the work-zone proposal argue that HB 3309 represented a fundamentally different approach because an automated system would only identify a possible violation. A police officer would still have to make the traffic stop and issue the ticket.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, has now directed lawmakers to consider whether similar technology could be used in school zones.
In his interim charges, Burrows also instructed the committee to “consider measures that would safeguard Texans’ privacy, prohibit automated retention of data, and prevent citations from being issued by third-party entities.”
Those privacy questions emerged during this week's hearing.
State Rep. Pat Curry, R-Waco, asked witnesses whether the proposed technology would resemble ALPR networks such as those operated by Flock Safety.
“[This proposal] would not be a constant monitoring system. [The] devices would only be activated when an officer was technically monitoring traffic, so different than the Flock cameras or your red light cameras,” Henson responded.
“This is basically just an extension of a tool that [the Department of Public Safety (DPS)] and local police already use to monitor speed. It just keeps them safely outside of a construction work zone,” he added.
Not everyone is convinced that requiring an officer to make the final traffic stop resolves the concerns surrounding automated enforcement.
State Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, was among the 29 House members who opposed HB 3309 last year. He told The Texan that he opposes “anything having to do with the automation of law enforcement.”
Little also raised concerns that private companies could become involved in the enforcement process and potentially be financially rewarded based on the citations generated.
“I don’t think that is going to make anyone safer,” Little said. “You know there’s a high-risk construction zone. We have law enforcement available, and they can always find places to sit where they can observe and engage in the speed trap.”
He characterized the technology as the “camel’s nose under the tent,” warning that approving it for limited circumstances could eventually lead to broader government surveillance.
Cain has similar concerns.
He told The Texan that automated traffic-control systems are “a terrible idea” and questioned whether relying on technology to establish an alleged violation could create constitutional due-process problems.
“My issue is that a human being does not witness the infraction, but the citation relies on a ‘robocop.’ A human being can testify as a witness, but the robot cannot,” Cain said.
Opposition to the 2025 legislation also came from outside the Legislature.
Texas Policy Research was among several groups that opposed HB 3309, describing the bill's safeguards as “well-intentioned but insufficient” and arguing that it would expand “the legal authority of local government.”
“Crucially, the bill does not include any mechanism for accountability: it lacks penalties for noncompliance, offers no process for public oversight, and leaves enforcement of these rules vague and discretionary. Without concrete consequences, local governments inclined to test the limits of the exception could do so without fear of reprisal,” the organization wrote in a statement on the legislation.
The debate also comes against the backdrop of a 2025 opinion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton involving automated speeding citations.
Paxton concluded that a Bexar County constable did not have authority to operate an automated traffic-enforcement system designed to issue speeding “citations by mail without interaction between officers and drivers.”
Paxton is now the Republican candidate in Texas' U.S. Senate race against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico of Austin.
Canales, meanwhile, has suggested lawmakers could eventually consider using similar technology for purposes beyond speeding enforcement.
“I think that tool could also be easily used to help the [DPS] find Amber Alert people with their plates, felony arrests where we know somebody’s a dangerous criminal,” Canales said.
“I know it would probably make the bill a lot harder, but I think that if we’re going to use that technology, we ought to be using it for the best of our ability to help the DPS make it a safer Texas.”
For lawmakers, the debate now centers on where to draw the line between using technology as another tool for police and creating an automated enforcement system that Texas has previously rejected.
