What happened
On 1 October 2026, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) announced he is introducing the Stop Flock Abuse Act establishing federal safeguards for AI-powered automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) and similar surveillance cameras. The bill would prohibit local governments from selling/sharing ALPR-collected data with non-governmental third parties, ban facial recognition in ALPR networks, require audit logs of who searched what/why/with whose approval (with supervisor review), and impose data security and retention guidelines. It follows Hawley's September Senate Judiciary hearing into Flock Safety and other ALPR vendors.
Why it matters
One of three competing congressional approaches in the window regulating AI-driven surveillance/ALPR data (alongside the Ban Flock Act and Massie's Flock-Off Act). Narrowly scoped to law-enforcement surveillance but establishes the regulatory-floor debate for AI-camera data handling that vendors and ALPR network operators must watch.
Action needed
ALPR vendors and local government customers should track the bill as proposed law; even pre-enactment, expect heightened scrutiny of third-party data-sharing and search-audit practices.