HB 961

Harrison Bill Puts Plate Readers Behind A Warrant

Died in committee

Verdict: No flags

No flagsInitial review

Initial review · graded Oct 20, 2026 · Headline, summary and grade are analysis of the bill text, not a finding about any person · How we grade

Caption

relating to the use of automatic license plate readers by a law enforcement agency.

Caption from analyzed text · version I.

Summary

Violent offenses only. Unrelated data gets destroyed. A yearly report counts scans that led to arrests.

The bill lets Texas police use automatic license plate readers only with a warrant or court order, and only to investigate violent offenses. Any plate images or data must be destroyed promptly unless they tie to a vehicle or owner in a violent-offense case, and police cannot hand that data to outside parties except for those same purposes. Every agency that uses the readers must adopt a policy and post an annual public report showing how many plates it scanned and how many scans led to an arrest or prosecution.

Labels

Labels: ZOMBIE BILL. Died 2 times: 88R HB 3999 (Died in committee) and this bill (Died in committee). Checked against 88R only.BACK FROM THE DEAD. Same text as a bill filed before that died: 88R HB 3999 (Died in committee). Filed in 2 sessions, counting this one. Checked against 88R only.TRY NO. 2. Filed in 2 sessions: 88R and 89R. Checked against 88R only.NEVER GOT A HEARING. Filed Nov 12, 2024 and referred to the House Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans' Affairs committee. No public hearing. The bill died.

Receipt

The receipt

89R-HB961 · 2024-11-12

SOLD BY

Rep. Brian HarrisonRHouse 10

ITEM

relating to the use of automatic license plate readers by a law enforcement agency.

WHAT IT DOES

Violent offenses only. Unrelated data gets destroyed. A yearly report counts scans that led to arrests.

CHARGES

[ ] NONE FOUND

TOTAL

No fiscal note in the loaded record.

HISTORY

Nov 12, 2024Filed
Mar 6, 2025Read first time
Mar 6, 2025Referred to Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans' Affairs

FILED UNDER

SURVEILLANCE STATE

THE TEXT

…“plate reader only as authorized by a warrant or court order.”

Bill text, introduced version (I)

The bill puts plate-reader surveillance behind a warrant, limits the data to violent-offense cases, requires prompt deletion, and bars sharing it with outside parties for other purposes.

No flags

THANK YOU FOR CHECKING THE RECEIPT

CAMPAIGN PAID FOR BY

Brian Harrison

Donors

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC$38KMichael Rydin$25,000Ed Harrison$16,000

Not tied to this bill.

Sources

The author's campaign account only. Own money and internal transfers are separate on the member page.

Derived itemized flow · Nov 1, 2024 to Oct 24, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC$37,500.00

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC

$37,500.00

Cash: $37,500.00
Paid by others: $0.00
Total: $37,500.00

Also funds 124 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Jul 10, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

TEC account match.

Team

Sources

Derived itemized flow · Nov 22, 2024 to Oct 21, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101013450, 101032507, 101072627.

Michael Rydin$25,000.00

Ed Harrison$16,000.00

Money

Missing data does not establish zero giving. Display amounts are rounded.

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC

$37,500.00

Cash: $37,500.00
Paid by others: $0.00
Total: $37,500.00

Also funds 124 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Jul 10, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

TEC account match.

Team

Sources

Derived itemized flow · Nov 22, 2024 to Oct 21, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101013450, 101032507, 101072627.

Votes

No floor vote loaded for this bill.

Fiscal

No fiscal note in the loaded record.

How this was graded

Analysis of text version I by claude-opus-5-5, Oct 20, 2026, against the published rubric.

FILED BEFORE

Filed 2 times: 88R and 89R. Checked against 88R only.

88R HB 3999

by Rep. Harrison, same lead author · Died in committee · same text

Introduced text

Last action, Mar 20, 2023: Referred to Homeland Security & Public Safety

Relating to the use of automatic license plate readers by a law enforcement agency.

Caption, 88R bill history

Sources

Texas House · Filed Nov 12, 2024

03/06/2025 H Referred to Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans' Affairs: Mar 6 2025 11:42AM

Texas Legislature Online · Introduced

Data snapshot Oct 26, 2026 at 4:19 AM CDT. Grades, charges, quotes and corrections follow the published record.

House committee · Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans' Affairs · Final status: Died in committee

Subjects

Law Enforcement

LICENSE PLATES

Text

The text as introduced · 384 words

By: Harrison
H.B. No. 961

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the use of automatic license plate readers by a law

enforcement agency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Chapter 750, Transportation Code, is amended by

adding Section 750.004 to read as follows:

Sec. 750.004. AUTOMATIC LICENSE PLATE READER. (a) In this

section, "automatic license plate reader" means a system that reads

and records license plate numbers taken from digital photographs.

(b) A law enforcement agency may use an automatic license

plate reader only as authorized by a warrant or court order.

(c) Images and any related data produced from an automatic

license plate reader used by a law enforcement agency may be used

only for the purpose of investigating a criminal offense that is a

violent offense as defined in Article 17.50(a)(3), Code of Criminal

Procedure.

(d) Images and any related data produced from an automatic

license plate reader used by a law enforcement agency must be

destroyed promptly after collection unless the image or data is

from a motor vehicle that:

(1) is involved in a criminal offense described by

Subsection (c) or an ongoing criminal investigation of such an

offense; or

(2) is registered to a person who is involved in a

criminal offense described by Subsection (c) or an ongoing criminal

investigation of such an offense.

(e) A law enforcement agency may not enter into an agreement

with a person to provide images or any related data produced from an

automatic license plate reader to the person except for a purpose

otherwise authorized by this section.

(f) A law enforcement agency that uses an automatic license

plate reader in accordance with this section shall:

(1) adopt a policy regarding the agency's use of

automatic license plate readers;

(2) annually compile a report regarding the agency's

use of automatic license plate readers, including:

(A) the number of license plates scanned by the

agency; and

(B) the number of license plate scans that the

agency used in an investigation that led to the arrest or

prosecution of a person; and

(3) annually publish the policy described by

Subdivision (1) and the report described by Subdivision (2) on the

agency's publicly accessible Internet website.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.