TL;DR: Kentucky's HB 58 passed the Senate Transportation Committee on March 19, 2026. The bill would require police to delete license plate reader data after 90 days and restrict data sharing to law enforcement agencies only. No more indefinite storage. No more selling your travel data.
What's happening in Kentucky
License plate readers (those cameras mounted on police cars and fixed poles that scan every plate that passes) have exploded across Kentucky. Flock Safety, the Georgia company that dominates this market, has contracts with police departments from Louisville to rural counties.
The problem: nobody told the cameras when to stop watching. Data sits in databases indefinitely. Your morning commute from six months ago? Still there. Your visit to a clinic? Logged. Your route to a protest? Recorded.
Rep. John Hodgson (R-Fisherville) filed HB 58 to change that. The bill passed the House Judiciary Committee unanimously in February 2026, then cleared the full House. On March 19, the Senate Transportation Committee approved it [1].
What HB 58 actually does
90-day deletion requirement. All ALPR data must be destroyed after 90 days unless it's evidence in an active investigation or subject to a court subpoena. No exceptions for "we might need it later."
Restricts data sharing. Police can only share license plate data with other law enforcement agencies and the National Insurance Crime Bureau. That's it. Not to data brokers. Not to private investigators. Not to whoever shows up with cash.
Limits who can access the data. Only personnel from the agency that deployed the cameras can access the data. Random officers from other departments don't get to browse your travel history.
Visual confirmation required. Officers must "visually confirm" that a scanned plate actually matches an alert before making a traffic stop. No more pulling someone over because a dirty plate misread [2].
Specifies allowed uses. The cameras can only be used for controlling access to secure areas, promoting public safety, deterring crime, and criminal investigations. The Transportation Cabinet can also use them for tolls and enforcement.
Why this matters
Rep. T.J. Roberts (R-Burlington) put it plainly: "The government isn't entitled to your whereabouts... You have a right of privacy" [2].
Here's the thing about license plate readers: they don't just catch criminals. They build a permanent map of where everyone goes. One database query can show everywhere you've been for years. Flock Safety alone captures over 300 million license plate scans monthly across its network [3].
And the data doesn't stay with cops. Flock and competitors share data between agencies. Some departments have shared ALPR data with ICE. In other states, data has been sold to repo companies and private investigators.
Angela Cooper from ACLU of Kentucky told Louisville Public Media the bill adds needed guardrails, but acknowledged "the horse has left the barn" on ALPR proliferation [2].
What happens if police violate the law?
Violators face fines between $20 and $2,000, or up to a year in prison. That's meaningful accountability compared to states with no ALPR regulations at all.
The bigger picture
Kentucky joins a growing list of states pushing back on unchecked ALPR surveillance. Virginia passed similar restrictions taking effect July 2026. California, New Hampshire, and Maine have their own ALPR privacy laws.
But plenty of states have no rules at all. Your license plate gets scanned, logged, and stored forever, with no oversight on who sees it or what they do with it.
HB 58 still needs to pass the full Kentucky Senate, then get signed by Governor Beshear. The legislative session ends April 15, 2026.
What you can do
References
- Kentucky bill limits license plate reader data collection - The Advocate-Messenger, March 19, 2026
- Kentucky GOP bill would limit license plate reader data sharing, storage - Louisville Public Media, February 11, 2026
- From drones to video cameras, Berkeley police ask for more Flock surveillance tools - Berkeleyside, March 19, 2026