Full Report
One line tucked into a federal highway bill would strip funds from cities and states unless they kill their automated plate tracking programs—effectively banning the tech for all but toll collection.
Analysis Summary
# Regulation/Compliance: Perry-García Amendment to the Federal Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act
## Overview
This bipartisan amendment proposes to prohibit any recipient of federal highway funding from using Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) for any purpose other than toll collection. The regulation aims to curtail mass surveillance and data misuse by leveraging federal financial strings to force states and municipalities to dismantle their existing law enforcement plate-tracking programs.
## Key Details
- **Issuing Authority:** U.S. House of Representatives (Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
- **Effective Date:** To be determined (pending passage of the $580 billion five-year reauthorization bill)
- **Jurisdiction:** United States (National)
- **Status:** Proposed Amendment
## Requirements
### Mandatory Requirements
1. **Usage Restriction:** ALPR technology must be used **singularly and exclusively** for tolling operations.
2. **Funding Compliance:** To remain eligible for Title 23 federal highway funds, organizations must decommission or restructure ALPR systems currently used for law enforcement, investigative, or general surveillance purposes.
3. **Federal Data Access:** Entities must terminate data-sharing agreements that provide federal agencies (e.g., CBP) access to local ALPR data unless related to tolling.
### Recommended Practices
1. **Data Purging:** Proactively delete historical ALPR data not associated with active tolling transactions to mitigate liability.
2. **Contract Review:** Audit existing contracts with third-party ALPR vendors (e.g., Flock Safety) to identify non-compliant data-sharing clauses.
## Affected Organizations
- **Industries:** Law Enforcement, Municipal Government, State Departments of Transportation (DOTs).
- **Organization Size:** All sizes (any recipient of Title 23 federal assistance).
- **Geographic Scope:** Nationwide; specifically impacts the roughly 25% of all public road mileage funded by federal Title 23.
## Compliance Timeline
- **May 21, 2026:** Proposed markup hearing by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
- **TBD:** Passage of the underlying five-year reauthorization bill.
- **Immediate (Post-Enactment):** The amendment implies an immediate cessation of non-tolling ALPR use to maintain funding eligibility.
## Implementation Guidance
### Assessment Phase
- **Inventory Assets:** Identify all ALPR cameras mounted on poles, overpasses, and police cruisers.
- **Funding Mapping:** Determine which ALPR-equipped roads are recipients of Title 23 funding.
- **Vendor Audit:** Review data-sharing configurations in vendor dashboards (e.g., Flock, Motorola) to identify inter-agency data feeds.
### Implementation Phase
- **Disabling Features:** Turn off "Hot List" alerts, searchable history databases, and investigative query tools.
- **Infrastructure Removal:** Physically remove ALPR hardware that cannot be repurposed for tolling.
### Validation Phase
- **Audit Trails:** Generate logs proving the cessation of investigative queries in plate databases.
- **Certification:** Prepare formal documentation for federal oversight bodies certifying that no Title 23 funds are supporting non-tolling ALPR activities.
## Technical Requirements
- **Functional Isolation:** Technical controls must be implemented to ensure ALPR data is only captured, stored, and queried for tolling transactions.
- **Access Control:** Restrict database access to administrative tolling personnel; remove access for law enforcement officers or special task forces.
## Penalties & Enforcement
- **Fines/Financial Impact:** Loss of eligibility for federal highway funding (part of a $580 billion funding pool).
- **Other Consequences:** Immediate "blindness" for local law enforcement agencies relying on automated plate tracking for active investigations.
- **Enforcement:** Managed by the Department of Transportation (DOT) through the withholding of Title 23 assistance.
## Related Standards
- **Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence:** Aligns with legal arguments regarding warrantless mass surveillance.
- **NIST Privacy Framework:** Relevant to managing data processing risks related to surveillance and citizen tracking.
## Resources
- **Official Documentation:** [h-t-t-p-s-:-/-/transportation-house-gov/] (House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
- **Guidance Documents:** Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) reports on ALPR misuse.
## Practical Recommendations
- **Engage Legal Counsel:** Determine the specific risk to municipal budgets if federal funding is withdrawn.
- **Transition Planning:** If ALPR is critical for public safety, organizations must explore non-federal funding sources or prepare to revert to manual investigative methods.
- **Vendor Management:** Demand transparency from ALPR service providers regarding "hidden" federal data-sharing pilots.