Stop Flock Abuse Act (Hawley, 2026)
United States — Stop Flock Abuse Act: Sen. Hawley Bill to Restrict ALPR / AI Camera Data (September 2026)
United States · Stop Flock Abuse Act (Sen. Hawley, announced Sept. 30, 2026; bill number pending)
- Status
- Proposed / pending
- Applies to
- State and local government agencies and law enforcement using ALPR / AI-powered camera networks; ALPR vendors
Sen. Josh Hawley announced a federal bill, the Stop Flock Abuse Act, to set safeguards for AI-powered cameras such as Flock automated license plate readers (ALPRs). It would bar local governments from selling or sharing vehicle location data with non-government third parties, require a written approval and audit log for every search, require deletion of driver data after ten days except for active criminal investigations, require encryption and keep data inside the United States, ban hardware or software from foreign adversaries, and prohibit ALPR networks from using facial recognition. It follows a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Flock that Hawley chaired.
Who is protected: Drivers and members of the public whose vehicle location data is captured by ALPR / AI-powered camera networks
Legal detail
Provisions per Hawley's Sept. 30, 2026 release: (1) local governments collecting vehicle location data may not sell or share it with non-governmental third parties; (2) written approval process logging every search authorization; (3) audit log of who searched, why, who approved and what was viewed, with regular supervisor audits; (4) encryption, data may never leave the U.S.; (5) deletion of driver data after ten days, narrow exception for active criminal investigations; (6) no ALPR hardware/software from foreign adversaries; (7) ALPR networks may not incorporate facial recognition. Release says Hawley 'will introduce'; KBIA (Sept. 30) describes the legislation as introduced. NOT ESTABLISHED: bill number, introduction date on Congress.gov, cosponsors, committee referral, enforcement mechanism and penalties. Context: Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a mid-September 2026 executive order with similar guardrails (30-day deletion), per KBIA. Coverage headlines (Google News, not opened) from CBS News and Sinclair stations also say 'introduces', but no bill text or number was found: the govinfo bills feed for Sept. 30, 2026 showed no Senate 'Stop Flock Abuse Act' (Congress.gov returned 403). Treat formal introduction as unconfirmed.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | United States |
|---|---|
| Level | Federal |
| Citation | Stop Flock Abuse Act (Sen. Hawley, announced Sept. 30, 2026; bill number pending) |
| Topics | consumer data privacy · police and surveillance AI · data retention · facial recognition · national security |
| Agency page | Hawley to Introduce Stop Flock Abuse Act, Establishing Safeguards for AI-Powered Cameras — Office of Sen. Josh Hawley (Sept. 30, 2026) |
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