SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) ―

Duffy introduced the bill, SB 2466, on Oct. 17 of last year, and it was referred to the Transportation Subcommittee on Red Light Cameras last week. Senate Transportation Committee Martin Sandoval (D-Cicero) will hold a hearing on the bill at 6 p.m. this coming Tuesday.

Early in 2009, a bill came before the state Senate Commerce Committee to expand red light cameras in Illinois. The bill eventually failed, but it led Duffy to pledge he would draft legislation to abolish the cameras altogether.

Red light cameras have already been abolished in Ohio, Minnesota, Texas and other states, Duffy said.

"I feel, and others feel in the state, that cameras are all about revenue, and not about safety," Duffy said.

He called it a "scheme" and said the state should be cutting costs rather than introducing taxes or fees.

Furthermore, a large percentage of the tickets that are generated from the cameras stem from legal right turns on red. Duffy said if the issue were safety, there would be "no turn on red" signs at the intersections rather than cameras.

In addition, every municipality can generate tickets based on its own rules. Sometimes, Duffy pointed out, a driver waiting to turn right at a red light might inch forward from the white line to look at something in the street. Some municipalities allow a driver to advance a foot from the white line, others have their cameras issue tickets if a driver passes the white line at all, Duffy said.

The cameras also have an incentive to generate more tickets, Duffy claimed. He said 30 to 50 percent of the money collected from the cameras goes to the camera companies.

Duffy's bill would abolish red light cameras in all municipalities, including the city of Chicago. The only exceptions would be construction sites and railroad crossings.

Duffy has received some support from across the aisle for the bill. State Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) joined him at a news conference in Springfield and claimed the cameras' "sole purpose is to gouge the public." 

Recently, CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reported that many motorists at an intersection near the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in North Chicago got $100 tickets from a camera for turning right on red without coming to a complete stop.

Schaumburg collected nearly $1 million from drivers turning right on red into Woodfield Mall before admitting the camera was more about cash than crashes and took it out.

Out in Wheeling, CBS 2 saw the camera lights repeatedly flashing even when no one was moving.

But, Levine reported, there's big money involved here and local officials and the companies who supply the cameras aren't likely to give in without a fight.

State Sen. John Millner (R-Bloomingdale) is sponsoring a separate piece of legislation, SB 3140, which would require a police officer to review every violation caught by the cameras, rather than the camera company getting the first crack as is the case now.