Pa. House To Vote On Abolishing Philadelphia Traffic Court
By Tony Romeo
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) -- The state House today is expected to vote on legislation intended to abolish Philadelphia's corruption-plagued Traffic Court.
The legislation has already sailed through the state Senate. Monday in the House, Philadelphia Democrat Curtis Thomas offered an amendment to one bill he said would eliminate the need to blow up the Traffic Court.
"To reform the Philadelphia Traffic Court system in a way that gets at the problem, not the system," Thomas explained.
But the House rejected Thomas's amendment and other major changes to that bill that would eliminate Traffic Court in all but name only, transferring its functions to Municipal Court. The House did make minor changes to that measure; it would have to go back to the Senate for another vote.
A companion bill involves amending the state constitution to formally eliminate Traffic Court. That would have to be approved again by the House and Senate in the 2014-15 session of the legislature.
