There is no federal law that governs automated license plate readers. Regulation is a patchwork of state statutes, and according to Stateline’s reporting, roughly 16 states currently have some form of ALPR-specific statute on the books — while dozens of bills introduced each year in other states fail to pass. That leaves most departments regulated only by their own internal policy, not by their legislature.
This overview is a starting point, not legal advice. Laws change every legislative session, and even in states with a statute, the details (retention windows, sharing rules, penalties) vary a lot. Where we could not independently verify specific statutory language, we’ve said so rather than guess. Check your state legislature’s website or a local civil liberties organization for the current text before relying on anything here.
States with a confirmed ALPR-specific statute
These are the states where we found and were able to verify specific statutory detail:
| State | Statute | Key provisions |
|---|---|---|
| California | Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.90.5 et seq. (SB 34, 2015) | Bars selling ALPR data or sharing it with private entities; sharing limited to public agencies. |
| Virginia | Va. Code § 2.2-5517 (amended 2025) | System data purged after 21 days; audit-related data retained up to 2 years. |
| Illinois | 625 ILCS 5/2-130 | Data archived after 90 days, up to 5 years if tied to an active investigation; bars sharing with out-of-state agencies for immigration or reproductive-healthcare investigations. |
| Maine | 29-A M.R.S. § 2117-A | 21-day retention limit; use restricted to specific, articulable facts; misuse is a Class E crime. |
| New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 261:75-b | Data purged within 3 minutes unless it matches a hot list; subject to state attorney general audit. |
| Arkansas | 2025 session law (signed April 2025) | Non-governmental ALPR use permitted if data is deleted within 60 days; state agencies and parking enforcement may retain data up to 150 days. |
| Idaho | 2025 session law, effective July 1, 2025 | Defines and restricts ALPR use to law enforcement and traffic-flow analysis; prohibits other uses. |
| Utah | State public-safety ALPR guidance | Warrant or court order generally required to access privately held plate data, unless the private holder retains it 30 days or fewer. |
For deeper detail on how retention periods specifically compare, see How long do police keep ALPR data?
States with some statutory activity we could not fully verify
Georgia and Colorado are both cited in secondary sources as having enacted some statutory provisions touching government ALPR retention, but we were not able to independently confirm the exact current statutory language and retention figures at the level of confidence we hold the states above to. If you’re in either state, check your state legislature’s site directly rather than relying on a specific number here.
Every other state, city, and county
For the remaining states and the District of Columbia, we did not identify a specific, currently-in-force ALPR statute at the state level as of writing. That does not mean ALPR is unregulated in those places — many individual police departments, county sheriffs, and city councils have adopted their own use policies, and some states are actively debating bills that haven’t passed yet. It means state-level statutory regulation, specifically, wasn’t something we could confirm.
| State | Statute status |
|---|---|
| Alabama | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Alaska | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Arizona | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Connecticut | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Delaware | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Florida | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Hawaii | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Indiana | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Iowa | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Kansas | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Kentucky | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Louisiana | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Maryland | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Massachusetts | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Michigan | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Minnesota | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Mississippi | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Missouri | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Montana | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Nebraska | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Nevada | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| New Jersey | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| New Mexico | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| New York | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| North Carolina | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| North Dakota | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Ohio | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Oklahoma | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Oregon | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Pennsylvania | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Rhode Island | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| South Carolina | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| South Dakota | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Tennessee | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Texas | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Vermont | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Washington | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| West Virginia | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Wisconsin | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| Wyoming | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
| District of Columbia | No specific ALPR statute identified as of writing |
Several of these states — including New York, Texas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and South Carolina — had ALPR-related bills introduced in the 2025 legislative session that did not pass, according to Land Line Media’s reporting. That’s worth watching: legislative activity in a given year is often a leading indicator that a statute may follow.
Why the map matters more than the statute, in practice
Because most ALPR regulation happens at the department or city level rather than the state level, the most useful thing you can usually do is find out what’s actually deployed near you. Browse the camera map or your state’s directory page (for example, /cameras/tx or /cameras/ca) to see what’s been documented, and read Can you opt out of license plate reader surveillance? for what your practical options look like regardless of which state you’re in.