PHOENIX — A money-raising provision being put in the state budget at the behest of Gov. Janet Napolitano could become a license for people with money to speed.

 The proposal, approved Wednesday by the Senate, would authorize the Department of Public Safety to enter into contracts with private firms to set up a system of 100 fixed and mobile photo radar cameras. That has been a priority of the governor.

 It also would put any profits from the system into the state treasury where it could be used for various expenses.

 But it also specifies that the record of violations cannot be used by the Motor Vehicle Division to determine if someone is getting too many tickets and should lose his or her license.

 And those citations would not become part of each driver’s permanent record, meaning they would not be available to insurance companies to decide whether to hike someone’s premiums — or whether to insure them at all.

 Senate Minority Leader Marsha Arzberger, D-Willcox, said there’s a simple reason for agreeing to let multiple scofflaws escap having their licenses yanked: It generates more money.

 “If people know that their tickets are not going to count against their insurance and points on their driver’s license, they will pay their fine,’’ she said. “It will be an incentive to pay the money.’’

 The provision was tucked into a last-minute amendment in the Senate plan to balance the budget for the new fiscal year that begins Tuesday.

 That plan reduces state spending by only about $350 million t bridge an estimated $2 billion gap between anticipated revenues and expenses. The rest is made up through about $1 billion in borrowing, taking money from special funds and funding part of the cost of operating the Highway Patrol from monies now collected for road construction and maintenance.

 And it also includes increasing state revenues: Napolitano has  estimated that her plan to have a statewide network of photo  radar cameras would net $90 million this coming budget year, even after operating expenses are paid.

 Arzberger said a high number of people now simply ignore the tickets when they come in the mail and hope that no one ever pursues them. She believes motorists who get the tickets — which will have a fixed $165 penalty plus $16.50 to fund the Citizens Clean Election fund — will write out the check figuring that’s  the worst that will happen to them.

 She said there is the “possibility’’ that motorists of wealth, no

 longer afraid of losing their license or insurance coverage,

 would continue to speed, figuring the cost of the occasional

 ticket is worth it.

 “It could be considered that way,’’ Arzberger said. “The (budget)

 analysts say that brings money because people would prefer to

 just pay the fine.’’

 Does that make the state more interested in getting the money

 than getting bad drivers off the road?

 “Yeah, well,’’ she responded.

 Senate President Tim Bee, R-Tucson, who helped negotiate the

 budget, would not comment on this provision.

 “Talk to the governor,’’ he said.

 But the governor isn’t talking. “We’re not going to negotiate the

 budget through the media,’’ said Napolitano press aide Jeanine

 L’Ecuyer.

 While some cities and counties operate photo radar cameras, many

 legislators have balked at statewide expansion because they say a

 live police officer is the best judge of whether someone is

 driving safely, no matter how fast they are traveling.

 The Senate also approved the rest of the budget plan this

 morning, though several Republicans voted against the package.

 Sen. Bob Burns, R-Peoria, said the amount of borrowing to balance

 the new budget, which begins Tuesday, will leave the state at

 least $1 billion in the hole for the following fiscal year. By

 that point the state’s “rainy day’’ fund will have run dry as

 will other special funds now being raided to balance the books.

 Burns recessed the meeting, demanding that someone from the

 governor’s office come to the committee to explain how Napolitano

 intends to balance the following year’s budget.

 That did not happen. Instead, Sen. Jorge Garcia, D-Tucson, said

 it is Napolitano’s intent to present lawmakers with a balanced

 budget for the 2009-2010 budget year next January.

 Burns said waiting that long is irresponsible.

 And with little desire to cut spending, Burns said that leaves

 only one option: Higher taxes.

 Legislative budget staffers said it would take a 1.15 cent

 increase on the state’s 5.6 percent sales tax to make up that

 difference — or individual income tax hikes ranging from 38 to

 47 percent.

 The House gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a plan crafted

 by Republican leaders there, one with only about half as much

 borrowing and deeper spending cuts. But some question remains

 whether there are the necessary 31 votes for final approval later

 today.