Texas Lawmakers Propose Banning Flock Camera Grants: 3,200 Cameras and $30 Million in State Money
A Senate bill filed for the coming session would cut off the state grant money that has put at least 3,200 Flock license-plate cameras on Texas roads. It is a proposal, not a law - but it arrives with bipartisan company and a governor's funding freeze already in place.
AUSTIN - Texas lawmakers have proposed banning the state grants that have funded thousands of Flock license-plate cameras across the state, the Texas Tribune reported Thursday. The Senate bill, by Sen. Carol Alvarado of Houston with co-authors Gutierrez, Menendez and Rehmet, would block the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority from making grants for automated license plate readers.
The money trail is the story's center. The authority has spent more than $30 million, drawn from a $1-a-year auto-insurance fee, to install at least 3,200 Flock cameras, the Tribune reported, alongside a separate $15.9 million Department of Public Safety contract under which 940 cameras were erected. An estimated 13,000 Flock cameras stood in Texas by late August. Gov. Greg Abbott had already ordered a funding freeze after the Tribune raised questions about the program.
The Senate bill is not the only approach on file. Rep. John Bucy of Austin has pre-filed a ban on public-agency use of plate readers altogether; Rep. Mary Gonzalez of Clint would require a warrant; and Rep. Brian Harrison of Midlothian, a Republican, would require a warrant and limit use to violent crimes - a spread that puts critics of the cameras in both parties. Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned against Flock, the Tribune reported.
Nothing in the bill is law. The Legislature convenes Jan. 12, 2027, and pre-filed bills are opening positions in a fight the numbers frame plainly: thousands of cameras, tens of millions in public money, and a surveillance network that grew on grants before it grew a public debate. The session will now have that debate.
