A bill before the Alaska Senate Finance Committee would outlaw controllers that can change some traffic signals from red to green.

A traffic-light changer is designed to allow police, fire and other emergency officials to clear intersections before they approach. But some drivers have managed to purchase them on the Internet.

The bill, sponsored by Senate President Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, would ban the possession or use of so-called mobile infrared transmitters, or MIRTs, by anyone other than public safety and transit agencies.

Under SB255, anyone caught with one of the devices could be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

The devices, which sit on a vehicle’s dash, are not regulated by current federal standards because they rely on a beam of light instead of a radio wave to trigger the light-changing mechanisms that have been attached to some intersections.

A recent U.S. Department of Transportation survey showed the devices are in use at 26,500 intersections in 78 cities across the country.

Traffic lights in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and the Kenai Peninsula have been equipped to use the devices, the newspaper reported. The bill would have less effect in Anchorage and Fairbanks because both use technology that prevents pre-emption by the devices bought by the general public.