Anaheim, CA Mobility & Curb Rules: Red-Light Cameras (2026)

Charter Section 1213, titled "Prohibition of Automated Traffic Enforcement Systems (Red Light Cameras)," was adopted directly by Anaheim voters at the November 2, 2010 General Municipal Election and filed with the Secretary of State on January 7, 2011. " The section goes further than a simple ban on adopting an ordinance: it bars the City Council and any city officer or employee acting officially from taking any action, direct or indirect, that would result in authorizing, approving, or installing a camera system; from acquiescing in another agency's decision to install one where Anaheim had a protest right it failed to use; and from entering any agreement that would facilitate installation or let the City collect any revenue from such a system.

5, the state law that otherwise authorizes local red-light camera programs, meaning the local ban forecloses exactly the mechanism state law would allow. Because this sits in the City Charter rather than an ordinary ordinance, it cannot be repealed by a future council vote alone; undoing it would require another vote of the Anaheim electorate. This is also why Anaheim has not adopted a school-zone speed camera program under the 2023 state pilot law (AB 645): that pilot is limited by its own terms to six named cities (San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach), and Anaheim's own charter would bar it from opting in even if it were eligible.