BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 34|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 34
Author: Hill (D)
Amended: 4/22/15
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 8-2, 4/7/15
AYES: Beall, Allen, Galgiani, Leyva, McGuire, Mendoza, Roth,
Wieckowski
NOES: Bates, Gaines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cannella
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 4-2, 4/14/15
AYES: Jackson, Leno, Monning, Wieckowski
NOES: Vidak, Anderson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hertzberg
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 5/4/15
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
SUBJECT: Automated license plate recognition systems: use of
data
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill establishes regulations on the privacy and
usage of automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) data and
expands the meaning of "personal information" to include
information or data collected through the use or operation of an
ALPR system.
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ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Places regulations on agencies, persons, or businesses that
own, license, or maintain computerized data that includes
personal information. These regulations include disclosing a
breach of security.
2) Prohibits a transportation agency from selling or providing
personally identifiable information of any person who
subscribes to an electronic toll or electronic transit fare
collection system or who uses a toll bridge, toll lane, or
toll highway that employs an electronic toll collection
system. Agencies covered by this regulation are the
Department of Transportation, the Bay Area Toll Authority, any
entity operating a toll bridge, toll lane, or toll highway
within the state, any entity administering an electronic
transit fare collection system and any transit operator
participating in that system, or any entity under contract
with the above-mentioned entities.
3) Requires that transportation agencies employing an
electronic toll or transit fare collection system establish a
privacy policy for the collection and use of personally
identifiable information and provide users with a copy of the
privacy policy. Transportation agencies include the
Department of Transportation, the Bay Area Toll Authority, any
entity operating a toll bridge, toll lane, or toll highway
within the state, any entity administering an electronic
transit fare collection system, and any transit operator
participating in that system, or any entity under contract
with the above-mentioned entities.
4) Establishes limits on the length of time that transportation
agencies may keep personal information. All information may
be kept only as long as necessary to perform account
functions. All other information must be discarded within 4
years after the conclusion of the billing cycle.
This bill:
1) Defines an ALPR system as a system of one or more mobile or
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fixed cameras combined with computer algorithms to read and
convert images of registration plates and the characters they
contain into computer-readable data.
2) Requires that data collected through the use or operation of
an ALPR system be considered as personal information subject
to existing law pertaining to agencies, persons, or businesses
that conduct business in California, and that own or license
computerized data including personal information.
3) Defines an ALPR end-user as a person that accesses or uses
ALPR information and an ALPR operator as a person that
operates an ALPR system, or that maintains ALPR information,
with the exception of transportation agencies. A person may
include a law enforcement agency, government agency, private
entity, or individual.
4) Requires that ALPR operators ensure that ALPR information is
protected with reasonable operational, administrative,
technical, and physical safeguards to ensure its
confidentiality and integrity.
5) Requires that ALPR operators implement and maintain
reasonable security procedures and practices in order to
protect ALPR information from unauthorized access,
destruction, use, modification, or disclosure.
6) Requires that ALPR operators and end users implement and
maintain a usage and privacy policy in order to ensure that
the collection, access, and use of ALPR information is
consistent with respect for individuals' privacy and civil
liberties.
7) Requires that the usage and privacy policy include, in part:
the purpose for using ALPR systems/data
a list of authorized users of ALPR systems/data
how the ALPR systems/data will be monitored
how ALPR operators will comply with security procedures
the length of time that ALPR information will be stored
and how it will be determined whether/when to destroy
retained information
the owner of the ALPR data and the employees who are
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responsible for implementing the usage and privacy policy
the reason and process by which ALPR data is shared with other
parties
a plan for how end users will maintain security of ALPR data
8) Requires ALPR operators that access or provide access to
ALPR information to maintain a record of that access. The
record must include the date and time of access, the license
plate number which was queried, the person who accesses the
information, and the purpose of accessing the information.
9) Allows an individual who has been harmed by a violation of
this title to bring a civil action against a person who
knowingly caused the violation. The court can award damages
which are stipulated in this bill.
10) Requires a public agency that considers using an ALPR system
to provide an opportunity for public comment at a regularly
scheduled public meeting of the governing body of the agency
before it implements the program of ALPR use.
Comments
Purpose. The author states that this bill is necessary to
institute reasonable usage and privacy standards for the
operation of ALPR systems, which do not exist for the majority
of local agencies that have approved the use of ALPR technology,
according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Additionally, this bill requires an opportunity for public input
on the usage and standards of ALPR technologies, something the
author contends few local agencies allow. The author states
that the main focus of this bill is to put in place regulations
for businesses and agencies which currently do not have any
policies regarding the use of ALPR data, unlike transportation
agencies which are already regulated by existing law.
ALPR background and history. ALPR systems automatically scan
any license plate within range. Some ALPR systems can scan
2,000 plates in a minute. When used by law enforcement, each
scanned license plate is checked against crime databases. If a
"hit" occurs - for example, a stolen vehicle, AMBER alert, or an
arrest warrant - the ALPR technology alerts the law enforcement
officer. While some suggest this technology is useful for
modern policing, others raise concerns over an invasion of
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peoples' civil liberties. Whether or not a hit occurs, all
license plate scans are sent to large regional databases that
aggregate ALPR data from various law enforcement agencies. The
ACLU reports that an estimated 1% of ALPR data results in a hit
and the other 99% of data has no relation to criminal activity.
Databases maintained for northern California law enforcement
agencies, San Diego law enforcement agencies, and private
companies (such as insurance companies, collections agencies,
and private investigators) contain 100 million, 49 million, and
more than 1 billion license plate scans, respectively. Some
argue that this information has the potential to be involved in
large-scale security breach issues.
The use of ALPR technology is growing. The ACLU estimates that
nationally, 75% of law enforcement currently uses ALPRs, 85%
plan to expand their use, and within the next five years at
least 25% of all police vehicles will be equipped with the
technology.
Privacy concerns. The collection of a license plate number,
location, and time stamp over multiple time points can identify
not only a person's exact whereabouts but also their pattern of
movement. Unlike other types of personal information that are
covered by existing law, civilians are not always aware when
their ALPR data is being collected. One does not even need to
be driving to be subject to ALPR technology: A car parked on
the side of the road can be scanned by an ALPR system.
This bill will put in place minimal privacy protections by
requiring the establishment of privacy and usage protection
policies for ALPR operators and end users. This bill does not
prevent the authorized sharing of data, but if data is shared,
it must be justified and recorded.
Exemption for transportation agencies. This bill defines an
"automated license plate recognition operator" as a person that
operates an ALPR system, but exempts transportation agencies.
The author states the exemption is included because
transportation agencies are already required, under existing
law, to establish a privacy policy for personally identifiable
information. However, transportation agencies are not currently
required to maintain a record of access to ALPR information,
including the date and time of access, the license plate number
or other data elements used to query the ALPR database or
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system, the person who accessed the information, and the purpose
for accessing the information. Toll operators frequently access
data as part of a system that captures hundreds of thousands of
images daily.
According to toll authority representatives, being subject to
these regulations would be extremely burdensome and inefficient
for the operation of toll roads and bridges given the immense
volume of transactions conducted by toll operators every day.
They also contend that removing the exemption would add no
substantive privacy protection for California.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Potentially significant local law enforcement agency costs to
comply with the provisions of this measure, to the extent
those entities wish to operate ALPR systems. As the use or
access of ALPR systems is not a mandated activity, the
implementation of additional security, privacy, and access
protocols and procedures are estimated to be non-reimbursable
by the state.
Potential periodic minor to significant costs to public
(state/local) and private ALPR operators, to issue data breach
notifications. Private entities and public agencies are
already subject to data breach notification law, so costs
would be dependent on the frequency and size of data breaches
specific to unencrypted ALPR data, and the process of
notification utilized by each agency. See staff comments.
SUPPORT: (Verified5/4/15)
Bay Area Civil Liberties Coalition
California Civil Liberties Council
Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform California
Conference of California Bar Associations
Media Alliance
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Small Business California
OPPOSITION: (Verified5/4/15)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT:
The Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform California state that
the language in this bill provides a long-overdue legislative
framework which establishes basic policies that will enhance
privacy and procedural requirements to outline the security,
usage, and storage of ALPR data.
Small Business California, Media Alliance, Bay Area Civil
Liberties Coalition, and the Conference of California Bar
Associations all support the transparency and protections that
are provided by this bill.
Prepared by:Christine Hochmuth / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
5/6/15 17:02:41
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