Sanders, Merkley, and Ocasio-Cortez Introduce Bill to Restrict Federal Use of Flock License-Plate Cameras

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) introduced legislation on October 2, 2026, that would restrict federal use of Flock license-plate-reader cameras and limit related grant funding to state and local governments. The measure follows recent congressional attention to the technology and a Washington Post investigation published in August that identified at least 50 law enforcement officers charged with or accused of misusing such systems.

The bill would prohibit the federal government from operating the AI-powered cameras or obtaining data from them. It would also condition Justice Department and other federal grants on state and local governments adopting comparable restrictions. Individuals and state attorneys general would gain authority to file lawsuits alleging violations.

Sanders stated in an interview that the devices enable broad tracking of movement. “The United States is moving toward a surveillance state where a handful of giant companies make huge profits by giving the government, by selling to the government the power to track our every move,” he said. “And I think that is a terrible direction in which to go.” He compared the cameras to requiring every American to wear an ankle monitor and argued that effective regulation would be difficult once the systems are widely deployed.

A photograph of a Flock camera in Millcreek Township, Pennsylvania, taken on September 28, accompanied coverage of the announcement. The Democratic legislation would go further than proposals focused on oversight by seeking to bar federal deployment and create financial incentives for states and localities to discontinue use.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s crime and counterterrorism subcommittee, held a hearing on the cameras earlier and described them as “a surveillance network unlike any we’ve ever seen in this country.” On October 1 he announced plans to introduce separate legislation addressing their use. Hawley stated that “AI-powered cameras produced by Flock and its competitors are tracking and creating digital footprints of everyday Americans — a nightmare for individual liberties unless Congress enacts meaningful rules and accountability.”

Flock has indicated openness to legislation. In a September letter to Hawley, chief legal officer Dan Haley wrote that the company supports “clear, sensible legislation governing how this technology is used” because privacy protections should not rest on a single vendor’s decisions.

The Democratic bill is not expected to advance in the current Republican-controlled House and Senate. Sanders said he anticipated broader artificial-intelligence regulation becoming a priority for Democrats if they gain Senate control in the November midterms.

Merkley said in a statement that the cameras are “laying the groundwork for a surveillance state while enriching corporate executives.” Ocasio-Cortez, speaking at a town hall in Ithaca, New York, on September 28, called the existence of the cameras “unconscionable” and noted Ithaca’s decision to end its contract with the company. She added that legislative action faces obstacles “because Washington, by and large, is bought and paid for.”

Flock and competitors Axon, Motorola, and Verkada have retained lobbying firms. Flock reported $430,000 in federal lobbying expenditures during the first half of 2026 and added two firms in August, according to disclosure filings.

Flock chief executive Garrett Langley said in an August interview that the company had anticipated state and local requirements for optional safeguards against misuse. “I had this hope that local lawmakers at the state and local level would move very quickly and they’d look at the things that we’re recommending as optional and say, ‘Great, we’re going to force it.’ And they haven’t,” he told The Post. “Instead of waiting, we said, ‘Look, we should just move faster.’”

License-plate readers and related technologies have assisted law-enforcement investigations, including FBI efforts to identify participants in the January 6, 2021, Capitol events. Some agencies continue to use the systems, while others have discontinued them. Pinal County, Arizona, Sheriff Ross Teeple testified at Hawley’s hearing that reliance on private networks for continuous recording of innocent persons’ movements without warrants risks creating “an AI-driven surveillance state.”

Sanders acknowledged law-enforcement objectives but maintained that the privacy implications outweigh potential benefits. “We all want to do our best to reduce crime in this country,” he said. “We all want to do our best to capture criminals. But we don’t do that in a democratic society at the expense of giving away our very basic freedoms.”

Drew Harwell and Douglas MacMillan contributed to this report.