Illinois State Representative Jehan Gordon-Booth says she would be willing to “look into” adding Peoria to the list of counties that can install red light cameras.

The move would require a change to state law that currently only allows eight Illinois counties- Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, Madison, McHenry, St. Clair and Will – to use the cameras that snap photos of drivers running red lights to send tickets in the mail.

The Peoria City Council unanimously voted to request the change from the state legislature at the Aug. 23 meeting.

“The entire city council unanimously said they wanted to do this,” said Gordon-Booth. “So, as a representative of this area, we certainly want to look into it.”

Gordon-Booth pointed out that she’s not the only area representative, and that state Rep. Ryan Spain (R) or state Sen. David Koehler (D) could also introduce legislation to pursue red light cameras. She says it’s not likely the issue would be brought up at November’s General Assembly veto session.

“Ultimately, what the city wants is enacting legislation,” she said. “The city council still has to discern or figure out what it is that they want to do, how they want to do it. It still would be on them to figure out how they will want to implement something like this.”

There have been bipartisan efforts since 2019 in the state legislature to get rid of red light cameras, though none of these measures have been successful.