Senate Judiciary amends and advances ALPR privacy bill after hours of testimony

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 23 advanced Senate Bill 70, legislation to regulate automated license‑plate readers (ALPRs) and related historical location databases, after a daylong hearing that drew more than 70 witnesses and multiple changes to the bill.

Sponsor Senator Zamora Wilson told the committee the bill “safeguards our essential liberties from encroaching government surveillance” while preserving law‑enforcement access for urgent needs. The committee adopted a package of amendments that narrowed the bill’s scope to ALPR systems, exempted certain traffic and tolling cameras, clarified that judicial and 911 records are not swept into the new rules, extended a short warrant‑free query window from 24 to 72 hours, and set a near‑universal retention cap in the statutes at about 30 days. After those changes, the panel voted 5–2 to send SB70 to the Appropriations Committee.

Why it matters: Supporters of the bill described ALPR networks as searchable archives that can reveal long‑term movement patterns and associations, arguing that requiring a warrant for retrospective searches protects privacy and free‑speech rights. “When aggregated and made searchable, that data reveals far more than a single sighting,” testified Alastair Whitney of the Institute for Justice, urging judicial oversight for historical queries.

Opponents included district attorneys, police chiefs and sheriffs, who said short retention periods and a blanket warrant rule would hinder homicide, human‑trafficking, missing‑person and violent‑crime investigations. “Under SB70, the four‑day destruction requirement and strict warrant parameters effectively make this case unsolvable,” Sergeant Dominic Marziano of the Aurora Police Department said of a shooting investigation he described.

What the committee adopted: Sponsors said the amended bill preserves immediate investigatory tools while limiting broad, untargeted archival searches. Key committee actions included:
- Narrowing the bill’s definitions so it applies to ALPR/historical location systems rather than all operational databases; exemptions were added for traffic‑enforcement/tolling systems and judicial/911 operational records.
- Extending a short access window to 72 hours during which law enforcement may query recent ALPR hits without a warrant; after that period, sponsors said agencies generally must obtain judicial authorization for historical searches unless exigent circumstances apply.
- Requiring auditing, supervision and defined sharing rules, and adding transparency measures about deployments and policies.

Vote and next step: The committee voted to advance SB70 as amended, 5–2 (Carson and Robert recorded as No; Gonzales, Henriksen, Wallace, Zamora Wilson and Chair recorded as Aye). The bill is now scheduled for consideration by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Procedure note: The committee adopted a series of sponsor‑filed technical and policy amendments during the hearing and made several clarifications requested by stakeholders. Sponsors said they expect additional technical drafting after Appropriations.