Washington state lawmakers have introduced legislation to sharply limit public access to automatic license-plate reader data after a November court ruling found that nearly all images captured by the cameras in the state qualify as public records available to anyone who requests them — a decision that law enforcement officials say could allow stalkers and abusers to track victims through government databases.
The bill, filed as the 2026 legislative session opened in Olympia, is co-sponsored by Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, D-Tacoma, and Sen. Jeff Holy, R-Cheney, a former Spokane Police Department detective. It would restrict Flock Safety cameras to sites near hospitals, schools, food banks and churches; prohibit their use for immigration enforcement or protest monitoring; cut the default image-retention period from 30 days to three; and limit public records requests for camera data to academic researchers only.
The measure advances as multiple Washington cities have already shut down their Flock programs, as public records have documented the technology being used to support federal immigration enforcement in apparent violation of state law, and as law enforcement officers in Georgia and Kansas have been accused of using the cameras to stalk or harass individuals.
Washington state lawmakers are moving to rein in automatic license-plate reader cameras after a November court ruling opened nearly all images captured by the cameras to public records requests — a decision officials say could let abusers locate victims by querying law enforcement databases.
A Skagit County superior court judge ruled in November that the images amount to public records under state law. The decision, combined with documented use of the cameras for immigration enforcement and a wave of records requests that has strained county offices, has accelerated a legislative response as the 2026 session opens in Olympia.
Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said the technology has transformed investigations — estimating that replicating its capabilities with human officers would require 70 people stationed around the clock with perfect recall. But he said the public-records ruling created a tool that bad actors could exploit.
“I have concerns about this getting into print, because I don’t want people to get any ideas,” Nowels said.
He described a scenario in which a person with a history of domestic violence could submit a records request to learn every recorded location of a former partner’s vehicle over the preceding month.
Legislation draws an unlikely alliance
The bill introduced in response is co-sponsored by Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, D-Tacoma, and Sen. Jeff Holy, R-Cheney, a former Spokane Police Department detective who spent 22 years on the force. Holy described the partnership as an instance of libertarian common ground between a progressive and a conservative — both concerned about how a government might abuse mass-surveillance infrastructure.
Under the measure, Flock Safety cameras — used by more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies nationally, according to the company — would be permitted only near hospitals, schools, food banks and churches. The cameras could not be used for immigration enforcement or to monitor protests. Image-retention periods would be cut from 30 days to three. Public records requests for camera data would be restricted to academic researchers.
Flock devices capture not only license plates but also a vehicle’s make, model, color, dents, roof racks, window stickers and animals visible in truck beds, according to company materials.
“Everyone is happy and unhappy about my current draft, which means we’re probably on a good path to compromise,” Trudeau said.
Washington lags behind nearly half of all states, including Idaho, that have enacted laws regulating automatic license-plate readers, according to reporting by InvestigateWest, which first published the story in partnership with the Associated Press.
Documented uses draw scrutiny
Public records obtained by researchers and journalists have detailed how the camera networks have been used beyond routine crime investigation.
A University of Washington research project found that at least eight Washington law enforcement agencies had given U.S. Border Patrol access to Flock images to potentially aid immigration enforcement. Washington law generally forbids local agencies from assisting federal immigration operations.
Separate audit records showed that Texas sheriff’s deputies searched Flock cameras nationwide — including Spokane County’s network — in an attempt to locate a woman who had obtained an abortion. Spokane County has since ended participation in nationwide Flock searches.
Independent journalists at 404 Media revealed in May that records had uncovered officers across the country conducting Flock searches on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The most prominent stalking cases involving the technology have involved law enforcement officers rather than members of the public. A police chief outside Atlanta, Georgia was arrested in November for allegedly using the city’s license-plate readers to stalk and harass people. In Kansas, a police chief was reported to have tracked the license plates of his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend more than 200 times over five months; a police lieutenant in a neighboring city was reported to have used the cameras to track his estranged wife.
“I’ll be the first one to stand up and say, ‘If you can’t use this tool appropriately and ethically and lawfully, it needs to go away,’” Nowels said. “It just does.”
Transparency advocates raise concerns
The bill’s near-elimination of public records access has drawn resistance from open-government groups, who argue that limiting scrutiny of government surveillance is its own kind of risk.
“Some of the board members have said, as long as the government is receiving information, that should be considered public record,” said Collette Weeks, executive director of the Washington Coalition for Open Government.
Weeks said the bill “raises 100 questions for me, with each question leading to 100 more.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington has also warned that the audit log data the bill would preserve as a substitute for direct public access is often insufficient to identify abuses. Records obtained by Range Media showed that more than a dozen Flock searches were conducted by Spokane County sheriff’s deputies in November with no explanation logged other than the word “investigation.” Nowels told InvestigateWest he has urged his deputies to be more specific.
Jim Leighty, a Spokane-area activist, said he had used a public records request to track ICE detainee-transport vehicles through the same camera network ICE has used to track individuals — a test of the system’s accountability that Spokane County processed after first verifying he intended no harm. He said the bill was “locking citizens out, but not actually protecting citizens.”
“It’s really just a question of balancing transparency with privacy,” said Tee Sannon, technology policy program director with the ACLU of Washington.
Cities have already acted
Several Washington cities moved to shut down their Flock systems before the legislation was introduced. Olympia deactivated its cameras in December at the police department’s request, citing concerns revealed through public records. Redmond, a Seattle suburb, had already disabled its network.
Cities that kept their cameras running have faced an operational problem created by the court ruling: Flock’s default of deleting images after 30 days means a records request made on the 29th day could create a preservation obligation that Flock’s servers might not meet in time — potentially exposing the city to fines under state transparency law. The bill’s three-day retention limit addresses that gap while also sharply reducing the volume of data available for any future request.
Trudeau acknowledged the bill’s co-sponsorship reflects the breadth of the underlying concerns.
“That’s going to remain probably one of the contentious points of the bill and negotiations moving forward,” she said. “There are people that feel very passionately about public records, and they should.”