HB 2771 | Regulating Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs)

Session: 2025-2026
ACLU-PA Position: Supports

Automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) capture the movement of every driver who passes, regardless of whether they are suspected of any crime. Creating patterns of behavior, ALPR data can reconstruct where people have been, when, and how often, all without a warrant.

Over time, this data can reveal personal details about our lives—our religious practices, medical visits, political activities, personal relationships, and daily routines. This inescapable national network of surveillance of course includes Pennsylvania, which has the 9th-largest documented number of ALPRs in the U.S. This dragnet surveillance threatens the freedoms the Fourth Amendment was adopted to protect.

HB 2771 (PN 4026) will provide strong privacy guardrails for the use of ALPR cameras and data in PA, including:

• Law enforcement will only be permitted to search ALPR data to identify vehicles suspected of being connected to: a homicide or other felony crime in PA, a missing person, a stolen vehicle, or registered to a person with an outstanding warrant for homicide or other felony crime in PA.
• A short, 72 hour data retention limit will be established for all data that does not return a "hit" on the list of suspected criminal activities above. For vehicles that do return a "hit", an additional 7 days is provided to allow law enforcement to investigate further.
• Access to or sharing of captured ALPR data will require a probable cause warrant.
• Captured data will be required to be stored using end-to-end encryption and will be prohibited from using facial recognition software.
• Captured data will be protected from being owned or licensed by any ALPR vendor or manufacturer.
• Audit logs of ALPR databases will be accessible under the Right to Know Law.
• It will be unlawful for ALPR cameras to be used or deployed in a way that targets communities based on race, ethnicity, or income level.
• State law will set the baseline for ALPR use throughout the Commonwealth, but municipalities and counties will still be permitted to pass more restrictive laws for ALPR camera and data use (including bans).
• Existing automated traffic enforcement (ATE) equipment, such as school bus, red light, speeding, and toll cameras, will be exempt from the provisions of the bill.

Watch the Joint House Judiciary + Transportation Committee hearing on ALPRs [September 28, 2026]