State lawmakers are taking cameras out of the picture on city express buses.

A provision tucked into the latest draft of the state budget prevents the MTA from installing enforcement cameras on buses in express bus-only lanes.

The cameras would snap pictures of the license plates of cars blocking the lanes, and tickets would be issued to the owners. The plan was at the top of new MTA CEO Jay Walder’s agenda.

Senate legislators want the cameras to be used only on existing rapid-bus lanes, which includes just one route along Fordham Road in The Bronx.

The MTA also wants cameras for lanes on First and Second avenues and along 34th Street in Manhattan, as well as Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn.

“What happened to common sense?” said Paul Steely White, chief of Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group.

“Amid all the bad news for bus riders in 2010, this was the one bright spot. How could legislators reject it out of hand?”

The state budget hasn’t been approved yet.