Legislation Killed Would Have Effectively Blocked Police LPR, Including Flock

A bipartisan amendment that would have effectively banned police license plate reader (LPR) programs nationwide, including Flock's system used by over 5,000 law enforcement agencies, was killed at a House committee markup on May 21, 2026. The amendment would have prohibited recipients of federal highway funding (~$53-57 billion annually) from using LPR cameras for anything other than tolling, forcing agencies to choose between federal road money and their Flock contracts. The failure reveals both growing political opposition to police LPR programs and the influence of Flock's lobbying operation, which includes a registered lobbyist who previously served as chief of staff to one of the amendment's Democratic co-sponsors.