Senate Democrats file bill to end the state grants that paid for thousands of Flock license plate cameras

A bill filed in the Texas Senate would stop a state agency from paying for automated license plate cameras along Texas roads, one of four measures on the cameras filed in the first week of bill filing for the 2027 session, The Texas Tribune reported Thursday.

Senate Bill 232, by Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, would prohibit the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority from giving financial assistance for roadside license plate readers. Sens. Roland Gutierrez, José Menéndez and Taylor Rehmet, all Democrats, signed on as co-authors.

The money at issue traces back to a 2023 law, also carried by Alvarado, that added a $1 annual fee to Texas auto insurance policies to fight catalytic converter theft. The Tribune reported in August that the authority later put more than $30 million of that fund toward installing at least 3,200 Flock Safety cameras.

That included a $15.9 million contract meant to help the Department of Public Safety put up more than 1,200 cameras; 940 went up. Alvarado has said roadside cameras were never discussed when her 2023 bill passed both chambers unanimously, according to the Tribune.

Gov. Greg Abbott, who appoints six of the authority's seven board members, froze state funding for the cameras, including the grants, after the Tribune asked him about them. Several cities then ended their camera contracts, and the statewide count of Flock cameras, estimated at about 13,000 in late August, has fallen since.

Three other approaches

The House bills range from a ban to tighter rules:

• HB 331 by Rep. John Bucy, D-Austin, would bar public agencies from using automated license plate readers at all.
• HB 763 by Rep. Mary González, D-Clint, would allow the readers but require a warrant before officers search the data, and would clarify which data are public records.
• HB 847 by Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, would require a warrant and limit use to violent-crime investigations. Harrison filed similar bills in the last two sessions.

Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned against the cameras. "They were never authorized. They shouldn't be standing," she said in a September interview cited by the Tribune. Flock offered some cities a 90-day break from payments in hopes the grant money would return after the election, the Tribune reported; the article did not include comment from the company.

Police departments use Flock cameras to log a vehicle's make, model, color and features such as bumper stickers, and the company's software lets agencies search other departments' camera networks. The bills will be taken up after the Legislature convenes in January.

Sources

The Texas Tribune

click2houston.com