SB 105: Increased Surveillance of Your Vehicle

This bill passed the Senate 15-13 but did not receive a vote in the House. Review our tracker for more information.

Senate Bill 105, sponsored by Senator Jerry Stevenson, seeks to expand the use of photo radar for enforcement of traffic control violations. 

Libertas opposes this bill for three reasons. First, the use of photo radar units presents an inherent privacy risk because they capture photo and location information that is stored in a centralized database. Second, this type of legislation moves to normalize the routine use of surveillance equipment for the enforcement of low level, minor violations. Additionally, there is no bar on using data collected for traffic control to investigate other criminal activity. 

Lastly, the bill grants the Department of Transportation the authority to “develop or maintain” policies related to the Zero Fatalities initiative, which includes “promot[ing] safety on highways.” This gives the Department broad latitude to draft further policies that could impinge on privacy interests not addressed in the text of the legislation.

For these reasons, Libertas opposes this bill. The state legislature should vote against this bill to protect the privacy of its constituents by preventing the expansion of law enforcement’s routine use of surveillance.