The Senate voted 39-10 to concur with the House’s weak version of SB 6002, regulating Flock and other ALPRs. It’s a very disappointing result. As Rep. Brianna Thomas said on the House floor
Establishing any framework at this point for retention, access, and sharing is indeed a step forward.
That said, the bill doesn’t meet the scale of the harms that we are seeing.
Yeah really. SB 6002’s “guardrails” are much too weak to protect Washingtonians — especially immigrants, rapid response groups, LGBTQ+ people, organizers, and protestors. There are multiple ways that ICE and CBP will be able to get at the ALPR data. Law enforcement agencies are allowed to collect data on every Washington resident and retain it for 21 days; other uses such as parking enforcement and transportation studies allow even longer retention. And the House further weakened the bill, reducing the warrant requirements and adding a horrible amendment from Rep. Leavitt allowing searches for vehicle characteristics like make, model, and color a recipe for fishing expeditions and abuse targeting anybody law enforcement doesn’t like. It’s a bitter pill, especially given the Democratic majority in both houses.
Still, there was one bright spot in the Senate concurrence vote: Senator Vandana Slatter voted “no”, joining Rep. Thomas as the only Democrats saying that guardrails aren’t strong enough. That’s a big deal, so please take a moment to thank Sen. Slatter and Rep. Thomas!
And while this result is painful, the fight is far from isn’t over. The next phase on ALPRs is city-by-city and county-by-county battles: trying to prevent cities and counties that have paused their Flock cameras from turning them back on, convincing other city and county councils to get rid of Flock and its competitors. Wherever you are, keep youre eyes open for upcoming meetings and votes. And if you’re in or near Redmond, please contact the Redmond city council before tonight’s study session.
Keep in mind that ALPRs are only one front in the battle against mass surveillance. Advocates are also pressuring Governor Ferguson to stop sharing Department of Licensing information with ICE and CBP. In Congress, the deadline for reauthorizing FISA warrantless wiretapping is April 20. And there’s a whole lot more going on as well …
So stay tuned!