While debate continues to rage over whether traffic-ticket quotas exist, legislation to ban their use statewide narrowly cleared the House of Representatives on Monday in a 39-31 vote. With HB264, Rep. Neil Hansen, D-Ogden, hopes to make the unspoken ticket-quota practice illegal. Some law-enforcement agencies deny their use while others admit to moderate mandates, where officer raises depend, to some extent, on the number of citations written. Rep. Richard Greenwood, R-Roy, said he had no quotas during his 25 years as a Utah Highway Patrol trooper. He expressed concern over passing a law to tell cities and counties how to run their police departments. "If you have a problem with Ogden City, you need to address it with them, not the Legislature," Greenwood told Hansen. Hansen said the problem extends well beyond Ogden according to the volume of e-mails he's received favoring the legislation. HB264 now advances to the Senate.

- Cathy McKitrick cmckitrick@sltrib.com