The legislative instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part of the
legislative instrument, were prepared by Cheryl Cooper.
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP ORT DIGEST
SB 250 2015 Regular Session Johns
Keyword and summary of the bill as proposed by the Conference Committee
LAW ENFORCEMENT. Creates a pilot program (Statewide Motor Vehicle Theft and Uninsured
Motorists Identification Program) involving the use of license plate recognition devices for certain
purposes. (8/1/15)
Report adopts House amendments to:
1. Provide that each definition in proposed law shall apply to all of proposed law.
2. Add that the definition of "automatic license plate recognition system" shall not include a
traffic camera as referenced in proposed law.
3. Remove phrase "including a traffic violation" from the definition of "legitimate purpose".
4. Provide that if a law enforcement officer by using this system is able to determine that the
owner, rather than the operator, of a motor vehicle lacks the compulsory insurance required
by present law, the determination constitutes probable cause to issue a citation to the owner
of the motor vehicle, rather than the operator, for the compulsory insurance violation.
5. Remove reference limiting proposed law to "state" public highways.
6. Remove language providing that data collected or retained through the use of an automated
license plate recognition system, including both historical and active data, is confidential and
available for use only by a law enforcement agency participating in the pilot program and by
any other entity agency with which the participating law enforcement agency contracts for
purposes of the pilot program's operation.
7. Remove language that any and all information concerning operation of the pilot program is
exempt from the Public Records Law.
8. Add provisions that all data collected, retained, or shared through the use of the program
shall be exempt from the Public Records Law except data retained as evidence of a violation
of compulsory motor vehicle insurance law or a felony being investigated.
9. Add provisions that specify that proposed law applies only to law enforcement agencies, other entities, and authorized users and shall not apply to or be construed or interpreted in
a manner to prohibit the use of any other automated license plate recognition system by an
individual or private legal entity for purposes not otherwise prohibited by law.
10.Change from 60 to 30 days the time period that data collected or retained through the use of
an automated license plate recognition system may be retained by a law enforcement agency.
Report rejects House amendments which would have:
1. Prohibited a law enforcement agency, another entity, or another person from using an
automated license plate recognition system to enforce civil traffic citations by any method
including towing or booking.
Report amends the bill to:
1. Require the Department of Public Safety and Corrections to submit a written report
concerning the program to the Senate and House Select Committees on Homeland Security
on or before January 15, 2016, and annually thereafter.
2. Terminate the pilot program on January 1, 2021.
Digest of the bill as proposed by the Conference Committee
Proposed law creates and provides relative to a program for using an automatic license plate
recognition system to identify uninsured motorists and stolen vehicles.
Proposed law provides that the automatic license plate recognition system may be used as follows:
(1)If a law enforcement officer is able to determine that a motor vehicle is stolen or that the
owner of a motor vehicle lacks the compulsory insurance required by present law, the
determination constitutes probable cause to arrest the operator of the stolen motor vehicle
or to issue a citation to the owner of the motor vehicle for the compulsory insurance
violation.
(2)A law enforcement officer may verify by sworn affidavit that a photograph generated by an
automatic license plate reader system unit identifies a particular vehicle operating on a public
highway and that the database shows that the vehicle was uninsured or stolen at the time such
vehicle was being operated, which affidavit constitutes probable cause for prosecution under
any applicable present law.
Proposed law authorizes the sheriff's office in each parish of the state, in cooperation with that
parish's district attorney's office to participate in the program by entering into an agreement to
participate with appropriate agencies and other entities in each jurisdiction. Proposed law further provides that to implement the program, the use of technology and software
to aid in detection of offenses involving motor vehicle theft and uninsured motorists is necessary and
desirable, and participating law enforcement agencies in these parishes have the authority to enter
into contractual agreements with other entities.
Proposed law authorizes the use of automatic license plate recognition systems, utilizing individual
automatic license plate reader system units, by participating law enforcement agencies and other
entities with which those law enforcement agencies contract to implement and operate the program.
Proposed law provides that an authorized user may use an automated license plate recognition
system only for the official and legitimate purposes of the user's employer.
Proposed law provides the following definitions:
(1)"Active data" means data uploaded to an individual automatic license plate reader system
unit before operation, as well as data gathered during the operation of an automated license
plate reader system unit.
(2)"Authorized user" means an employee of the participating law enforcement agency or an
employee of the other entity authorized by that entity to use the system for a legitimate
purpose.
(3)"Automatic license plate recognition system" means a system of one or more mobile or fixed
high-speed cameras combined with computer algorithms to convert images of registration
plates into computer-readable data. This definition does not include a traffic camera as
referenced in R.S. 32:393(I).
(4)"Captured plate data" means the global positioning system coordinates, date and time,
photograph, license plate number, and any other data captured by or derived from an
automatic license plate recognition system, and includes both historical and active data.
(5)"Historical data" means any data collected by an individual automatic license plate reader
system unit and stored in a database.
(6)"Law enforcement agency," except as provided elsewhere in proposed law, includes a district
attorney's office of any parish, the sheriff's office of any parish, the police department of any
municipality, the attorney general's office, the Dept. of Public Safety and Corrections, office
of state police and office of motor vehicles, and the Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries.
(7)"Legitimate purpose" for law enforcement agencies means access to collected data for the
investigation, detection, analysis, or enforcement of the law regarding a criminal offense.
(8)"Legitimate purpose" for the entities that are a party to an agreement or contract with the
participating law enforcement agencies includes the collection and storage of data to assist
the participating law enforcement agency in developing, utilizing, and managing the pilot program.
(9)"Other entity" means an entity with which a participating law enforcement agency contracts
to implement and administer the pilot program.
(10)"Participating law enforcement agency" means the law enforcement agency operating the
pilot program in one of the pilot program parishes established by proposed law, and is
limited to the respective sheriff's offices and district attorney's offices in the pilot program
parishes.
(11)"Pilot program" or "program" means the State Motor Vehicle Theft and Uninsured Motorists
Identification Program.
Proposed law provides that a central database for the collection, storage, and dissemination of data
captured by an automatic license plate recognition system is to be established and operated by the
participating law enforcement agencies, which database must be located in a secure area. Proposed
law further provides that the central database must fully comply with all National Law Enforcement
Telecommunications System (Nlets) and FBI hosting and security standards, and access to the
database is to be restricted to authorized law enforcement agency users and to entities with whom
the law enforcement agencies contract to establish and operate the program.
Proposed law provides that the Dept. of Public Safety and Corrections, public safety services, shall
allow access to the vehicle registration and compulsory motor vehicle insurance databases to be used
only in connection with the automatic license plate recognition system established pursuant to
proposed law.
Proposed law requires the Dept. of Public Safety and Corrections, public safety services to allow
access to the data from the databases in accordance with a memorandum of understanding to be
executed between the department, sheriffs, and district attorneys in the state.
Proposed law provides that data collected or retained through the use of an automated license plate
recognition system may be retained by a law enforcement agency for not more than 30 days, except
when the data is being used as evidence of a violation of the compulsory motor vehicle insurance
law or for felonies being investigated, including motor vehicle theft, homicide, kidnaping, and
burglary, or for the purpose of AMBER Alerts and Blue Alerts.
Proposed law provides that data collected or retained through the use of an automated license plate
recognition system cannot be used by any individual or agency for purposes other than law
enforcement.
Proposed law provides that no law enforcement agency or other entity authorized to operate under
this program may sell captured plate data for any purpose, or share it for any purpose not expressly
authorized by proposed law. Proposed law further provides that a participating law enforcement
agency may provide data to another law enforcement agency upon written request when that agency
is engaged in an ongoing investigation or prosecution of a felony. Proposed law further provides that any and all data collected, retained, or shared through the use of
an automated license plate recognition system, except data retained as evidence of a violation of
compulsory motor vehicle insurance law or a felony shall be exempt from disclosure under present
law (Public Records Law).
Proposed law provides that any person who violates any provision of proposed law relative to use
of automated license plate recognition system and use of data may be imprisoned for up to six
months, or fined up to $1,000, or both.
Proposed law specifies that, except for the prohibition on use to enforce civil traffic citations,
proposed law applies only to law enforcement agencies, other entities, and authorized users and shall
not apply to or be construed or interpreted in a manner to prohibit the use of any other automated
license plate recognition system by an individual or private legal entity for purposes not otherwise
prohibited by law.
Effective August 1, 2015.
(Amends R.S. 44:4.1(B)(19); Adds R.S. 32:46)