Senate amends bill to regulate automatic license plate readers in VA, pumps the brakes on expanding the technology to state highways
VENN
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) - With just a few days left in the 2025 Regular General Assembly Session, lawmakers continued to grapple with how to regulate and perhaps expand the use of automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) in Virginia.
“We had a member of our General Assembly’s father who was found because of a license plate reader just a few weeks ago,” House Majority Leader Delegate Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria) told 8News.
The Senate Courts of Justice Committee passed a bill on Monday that would limit when law enforcement could access the data to certain situations like criminal investigations or to find a missing or endangered person.
“They’re used primarily for things like stolen vehicles, missing persons, abductions, human trafficking, and criminal warrants,” said Dana Schrad, Executive Director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police.
However, the committee made changes to the House version of the bill, cutting how long law enforcement could keep the data before deleting it from 30 days to 21 days.
Law enforcement groups testified against the change saying 30 days is the perfect middle ground. However, some criminal justice reform advocates worry about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) getting their hands on the data through a subpoena to find people living in the United States illegally.
“We do continue to worry that in a three-week period, other people that we don’t want to have access to the data are going to get it,” Rob Poggenklass, Executive Director of Justice Forward Virginia, told 8News.
Meanwhile, the Senate also made a change requiring the General Assembly to re-approve a portion of the bill next year before these cameras can be installed and used on state roads and highways.
If the bill passes the Senate as amended, it will then go to what’s called a conference committee for the House and Senate to try and reach a compromise agreement on what exactly to send to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s desk.
