Bill > HB2771

This bill establishes strict regulations across Pennsylvania regarding the use of automated license plate reader systems, which are high-speed camera and computer technologies used to convert vehicle registration plates into machine-readable data. Under the legislation, government entities and private contractors are generally prohibited from operating these systems or utilizing captured data—which includes vehicle photographs, GPS coordinates, timestamps, and physical characteristics—except for specifically authorized purposes such as parking enforcement, controlling access to secure areas, checking for unregistered or uninsured vehicles, and comparing scans against "hot lists" containing vehicles linked to felonies, homicides, missing persons, or outstanding arrest warrants. The bill bans using the technology for facial recognition, tracking drivers or passengers, generalized surveillance, or taking frontal-view images of motorists, and it mandates that captured data generally be deleted within 72 hours unless required as evidence for an active investigation or prosecution. Furthermore, the legislation requires specialized training for system operators, mandates strict data security and auditing protocols under the direction of the Pennsylvania State Police, restricts data sharing, makes audit and access logs subject to public transparency while exempting personally identifiable captured data from the state's Right-to-Know Law, renders illegally obtained data inadmissible in court, and imposes criminal misdemeanor penalties and civil liability for knowing or intentional violations.