No FLOCK Act would tie highway funding to camera restrictions
A bipartisan proposal would withhold 10% of certain transportation funds from states that allow broader use of Flock-style plate readers.
By Dominic Okoye · Staff Writer
· 3 min read
Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat representing Chicago suburbs, and Michael Cloud, a Texas Republican, told WIRED they planned to introduce the No FLOCK Act, a proposal that would make states’ federal highway funding contingent on limits for Flock cameras and similar automated license-plate readers. Under the reported no flock act highway funding mechanism, noncompliant states would lose 10% of specified annual federal support for highways, roads and bridges, putting surveillance-camera policy behind a substantial federal enforcement tool.
The measure has not been confirmed in the supplied Congress.gov records with a bill number, text, committee referral or formal status. Its terms should therefore be treated as reported by WIRED, rather than as an enacted or formally filed federal requirement.
How would the No FLOCK Act affect highway funding?
WIRED reported that the transportation secretary would withhold 10% of annual transportation support from a state unless the state prohibited Flock systems and comparable automated license-plate readers except for five purposes. If it passed during 2026, the report said, the funding penalty would start in October 2028. The potential annual effect would range from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars depending on the state, according to WIRED.
The reported structure would allow the systems to be used for:
- enforcing tolls;
- identifying stolen vehicles;
- locating missing or endangered people;
- identifying vehicles registered to people wanted on felony warrants; and
- investigating a vehicle involved in a felony offense.
Other uses, including traffic studies, parking and speeding enforcement, and investigations of minor drug crimes, would fall outside those exceptions, WIRED reported. Automated license-plate readers are used by police to help track the locations of vehicles connected to crimes, according to the publication.
The proposal would restrict use rather than prohibit the technology entirely. It also would not block agencies from broadly sharing license-plate tracking data with other government bodies, including immigration authorities, WIRED reported. Flock did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
Why are lawmakers proposing limits on Flock cameras?
Krishnamoorthi said an investigation into Flock had found gaps in oversight and that the proposal would set limits while retaining public-safety uses. Cloud characterized the cameras as mass surveillance that raises Fourth Amendment concerns. Those are the sponsors’ positions, not findings established by the proposed legislation.
WIRED reported that an external database recorded at least 100 alleged cases of automated license-plate-reader abuse over the previous eight years. It also cited the New York University School of Law’s Policing Project as saying that roughly 25 states and US territories have laws addressing the systems, though few of those laws limit permitted uses.
The No FLOCK Act would be separate from two bills already listed by Congress.gov. H.R. 9800, introduced by Rep. Tim Burchett on July 21, would prohibit federal agencies from using covered automated surveillance systems, including plate readers, and would bar state, local and Tribal governments from using federal funds for them. H.R. 10221, the Flock-Off Act, was introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie on September 2 and remains at introduced status in the supplied record. The available record does not include its policy text.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.
