The California Assembly unanimously endorsed a bill that would outlaw a device 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 impatient drivers have managed to purchase them on the Internet for as low as $100, according to published reports.

People can even buy kits and build the signal changer themselves.

Assembly lawmakers voted 79-0 Jan. 29 to advance AB340, a measure intended to deter anyone other than public safety and transit agencies from using the devices, called mobile infrared transmitters, or MIRT. It has been forwarded to the Senate for consideration.

Under the bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Dario Frommer, D-Glendale, the unauthorized purchase or sale of the device would result in a fine of up to $1,000. Anyone caught selling or buying two or more of the transmitters would be fined up to $3,000.

A person with an unauthorized device who causes an injury or death in a traffic accident would face six months imprisonment and a fine up to $10,000.

The bill also would permit law enforcement to conduct online stings.

The transmitters, 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.

U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, R-OH, recently introduced a bill in Congress prohibiting the sale or possession of the signal changers. His bill reportedly would make the sale of the transmitter to unauthorized users illegal with a fine up to $10,000 and possible jail time.

Similar proposals have also been introduced in about a dozen state legislatures around the country.