A Bipartisan Amendment Would End Police License Plate Tracking Nationwide

Key points

• US lawmakers plan to introduce an amendment Thursday at a House committee markup hearing that would prohibit any recipient of federal highway funding from using automated license plate readers for any purpose other than tolling—a sweeping restriction that, if adopted, would bring an immediate end to state and local ALPR programs across the United States.
• The amendment, obtained first by WIRED, is by Representative Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican and Freedom Caucus member, and Representative Jesús “Chuy” García, an Illinois progressive whose state has become a flash point in the national fight over ALPR misuse.
• The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will mark up the underlying bill—a $580 billion, five-year reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs—at 10 am ET on Thursday.
• Neither Perry nor García's offices immediately responded to WIRED's request for comment.
• The amendment runs a single sentence: “A recipient of assistance under Title 23, United States Code, may...