Lawmakers from opposite ends of Congress introduced competing bills this week aimed at Flock Safety's automated license plate reader network, The Record reported Friday. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., wants strict rules on how the cameras' data is searched and kept, while Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., want the federal government out of the technology entirely.

What Happened

Hawley introduced the Stop Flock Abuse Act Wednesday. It would bar the sale or sharing of license plate reader data with nongovernment third parties and shield drivers' data from public records requests. Police would need written approval from an officer before running a search, supervisors would have to audit searches and stored data would have to be encrypted. The bill would cut the maximum retention period to 10 days from the 30 days now allowed and prohibit linking the cameras to facial recognition.

Hawley argued that the Constitution protects personal privacy and control over one's own data, and said the interconnection of these camera networks is what makes them distinctive.

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The Ban Flock Act, unveiled Friday, goes further. According to TechCrunch, it would prohibit federal agencies from operating automatic license plate readers or tapping data collected by readers run by local police and private companies. Exceptions cover toll collection and any future uses Congress approves, which would be limited to 48 hours of data retention. State and local governments that keep using the readers would lose grants from five federal departments, including Justice and Homeland Security, starting in the first fiscal year after enactment. Individuals could sue over violations, and state attorneys general could enforce the law. Despite its name, the bill applies to all license plate reader systems.

"Flock is always watching," Sanders said in announcing the bill, warning against letting the country become a surveillance state.

Flock said in response that it strongly supports legislation that sets guardrails for license plate readers.

Why It Matters

Flock runs the largest such network in the U.S., with more than 120,000 cameras and over 20 billion vehicle reads a month, according to a company blog post cited by TechCrunch. Its cameras are installed by police departments, homeowners associations and businesses, and searches can span jurisdictions, which is why critics focus on the network rather than individual cameras.

The two bills reflect different theories of the problem. Hawley's would keep the systems but restrict who can see the data and for how long. The Sanders bill treats federal access itself as the danger and uses grant money to push states and cities away from the readers. Chad Marlow of the ACLU told The Record that bipartisan sponsorship is a good sign but said a full ban is still needed.

Mounting Incidents

The Record cited a string of recent cases. One driver was jailed for 13 days after Flock data tied a car of the same model as a suspect's vehicle to the wrong person. Five Indianapolis police officers were arrested in September for running improper Flock searches on personal contacts. TechCrunch noted that a former Milwaukee officer pleaded guilty to misconduct after searching the system 179 times to track a former partner.

Security researcher Joshua Michael has mapped about 300,000 Flock-connected devices nationwide, far above the company's 120,000-camera figure, The Record reported. Michael also said he found an exposed access token in November 2025. In Florida, St. Lucie County found 14 Flock cameras installed without permits.

Flock has recently cut default retention to seven days from 30 and added an audit tool that flags unusual searches, and its CEO has said the company is considering requiring two approvals for searches, according to TechCrunch.

What to Watch

Both bills now go to committee, where cosponsor counts will show whether either can gather momentum. Watch for Flock's lobbying response, for more city and county contract reviews and for whether provisions from Hawley's narrower bill draw support from Democrats who favor an outright ban.