As New York City prepares to step up its use of red light and speeding cameras on Aug. 1, New Jersey lawmakers are advancing legislation that would give New Jersey drivers immunity from automated tickets.

The bipartisan bill, which passed unanimously in the state Senate, would ban the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission from allowing another state to send an automated traffic fine.

“They are garbage. They are nothing other than government-sanctioned theft in the name of protecting our children,” says Republican state Sen. Declan O’Scanlon. “It ain’t protecting our children. They aren’t enhancing safety.”

The New York City red light cameras work by taking pictures of drivers’ license plates if they are speeding through a red light. The camera uses the plate information to get the information on the driver and sends them a ticket.

The New Jersey law would stop that from happening.

“You wouldn’t get the ticket. They wouldn’t even know who to issue it to,” O’Scanlon says.

The senator says that New Jersey drivers could still be subject to fines of caught speeding in New York City.

“They can still be pulled over by cops,” he says.

New York City Department of Transportation spokesman Vin Barone says in a statement, “Speed cameras are a critical tool to save lives, which is why NYC is turning them on 24/7 beginning Aug, 1. We are aware of the NJ Senate bill, and we have serious concerns about its effect on safety should it become law.”

“For his claim to be true, New Jersey would have to be the fatality capital of the world, because we banned speed and red-light cameras. We are not,” O’Scanlon says. “Vinnie, I’m sorry, you’re full of crap.”

O’Scanlon led the charge to ban red light and speed cameras in New Jersey. That ban was signed into law by then-Gov. Chris Christie in 2014.

News 12 spoke with some Staten Island residents who have to deal with the red-light cameras near their homes. Many were not all that happy with the idea of New Jersey drivers avoiding automated tickets.

“I can’t say what I think about that on TV, but I don’t think that’s fair,” says Stephani Moskowitz. “Good for New Jersey, then.”

The law would not have any impact on police in any state to pull up information on New Jersey drivers they pull over.