Idaho Congressman Russ Fulcher co-sponsors bill to regulate federal access to license plate reader d

Our Take

Credit to KTVB for flagging this one. A federal lawmaker — and a Republican from a deep-red state, no less — is finally putting in writing what we've been saying for years: ALPR data is sensitive enough to deserve a warrant, not a rubber stamp. Fulcher's bill targets two of the biggest problems in this ecosystem at once. First, it would require federal agencies to get a warrant before pulling plate reader data, closing the loophole where feds quietly browse local and state databases without any judicial oversight. Second, it would ban federal money from buying or installing the cameras in the first place, which matters because federal grants have been a major funding pipeline for departments bolting Flock cameras onto every intersection they can find.

This is the kind of bill that should matter to people across the political spectrum, because the problem isn't who's in charge of the camera network — it's that the network exists at all, with almost no guardrails on who can query it, for what reason, or how long the data sticks around. A warrant requirement at the federal level doesn't fix local misuse, but it does set a precedent: license plate data is a search, and searches need justification. If Congress can accept that logic for federal agencies, state legislatures should be asked why it doesn't apply to local police and private vendors too.

We'll be watching to see whether this bill picks up co-sponsors or dies in committee like so many privacy bills before it. In the meantime, check our camera map to see how much of this infrastructure is already running in your area, and visit our take-action page if you want to push your own representatives to back real oversight instead of waiting on Washington.