Automated License Plate Readers (H 5610A as amended)

In March, the ACLU testified before the House Corporations committee in opposition to legislation sanctioning the use of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) by the Department of Public Safety. Proposed as a way to detect and ticket uninsured motorists, ALPRs have the capacity to track the GPS location of every car they pass, and to transmit insurance and registration information to third parties.  Although ALPRs are gaining interest among law enforcement nationwide, their use, the information captured, and who may access that information remains largely unregulated. This legislation would have sanctioned the use of the cameras with no critical privacy protections, while ensuring that a specific vendor would be able to profit from the use of these cameras. The House passed the legislation in June, but it died without receiving a committee hearing in the Senate.