I introduced a bipartisan bill this week, and the reaction from Trump's own FBI Director tells you everything you need to know about why it's necessary.
The bill is called the No FLOCK Act, and I introduced it with a Republican colleague, because this shouldn't be a partisan issue. It targets Flock Safety and other automated license plate reader networks that have quietly turned into a nationwide surveillance system.
Here's what's actually happening on the ground. A Washington Post investigation found at least 69 police officials who have been accused, charged, or convicted of abusing this technology — using it to track wives, girlfriends, ex-partners, and people they had no legitimate reason to be watching. In Kentucky, one officer used the system more than 2,000 times to stalk his ex-girlfriend.
And this week, when senators pushed FBI Director Kash Patel on it directly, he didn't express any concern. He defended the technology outright.
Let me be clear about what our bill actually does. It doesn't ban this technology outright, and it doesn't stop legitimate public safety uses like finding stolen cars or locating missing children. What it does is put teeth behind real limits: if a state doesn't restrict license plate readers to a defined set of legitimate uses, it loses some of its federal highway funding. No more unchecked expansion. No more excuses.
Because right now, there is functionally no limit on what this data can be used for once it's collected, or who can access it. Local police departments have handed this data to ICE. Officers have used it to stalk people in their personal lives. And Trump's own FBI Director just told Congress, on the record, that he's fine with how it's being used.
I am not fine with it. Taxpayers should not be funding the construction of a surveillance state that can be turned against them, their neighbors, or anyone this administration decides to target next.
This is exactly why I built Equal Opportunity Now — to support leaders who will stand up for privacy and civil liberties, even when it means taking on their own party's administration to do it.
Will you chip in $25 or $50 to Equal Opportunity Now today to help us hold the line on this?
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