Nevada legislators are considering bringing a bill next legislative session to add guardrails around the use of license plate readers, including requiring agencies that use the technology to submit annual reports to the attorney general, governor and Legislature.

Legislators in an interim judiciary meeting on Tuesday unanimously accepted a recommendation to request a bill be drafted on the issue. It would require agencies that use automated license plate systems to adopt written policies, train authorized users on lawful use and data-protection requirements, as well as undergo independent audits for compliance. 

Nevada has no laws regulating license plate reader use, even though at least five cities and counties in the state have used them. Automated license plate readers — specifically those from the company Flock Safety — have faced increasing public scrutiny for effectively allowing warrantless searches of any vehicle that passes by the camera, although police tout their lead-generating benefits.

The move Tuesday came in the wake of months of Nevada Independent reporting on the systems, including about a void of Nevada laws on them.  

Flock has a network of more than 80,000 AI-powered cameras that scan identifying details of passing vehicles and plug them into a national network that law enforcement can access.

Only 16 states have implemented legislation that explicitly address the use of such cameras, with five prohibiting their use by anyone other than law enforcement.

"My understanding is that absent any law that prohibits the use of Flock cameras or license plate readers, there is nothing to prohibit law enforcement agencies, private security companies, other agencies … from installing these cameras?" Sen. Melanie Scheible (D-Las Vegas), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked during the Tuesday meeting.

The Indy has reported in-depth about the use of license plate readers in Nevada since early this year, including that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department deployed hundreds of Flock cameras thanks to a donation from venture capitalist Ben Horowitz. Because those cameras were not purchased with public funds, Metro did not have to hold meetings with the public to comment on the technology.

On Monday, Clark County School District also confirmed to The Indy that they have an agreement with Flock — raising additional questions about how the technology interacts with minors, their parents and school personnel. 

The proposal is just one of the 15 legislative measures the committee can request. Other legislative committees declined to take on the issue, Scheible said during the meeting. The proposal is based on a model policy developed by the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association earlier this year. 

The issue united Republicans and Democrats. Assm. Alexis Hansen (R-Sparks) said she would support bringing the measure forward, with the caveat that "we're gonna have a whole lot of discussion in the next session." 

It was a line that Scheible repeated. 

"There will be much discussion on this," she said. "It seemed appropriate to at least have a vehicle to hash out those details."