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Prohibits the use of automatic license plate reader systems or captured plate data by government entities except for certain purposes.

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New York Senate Bill S. 9890 (introduced April 13, 2026 by Sen. Hinchey and referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection) has not been enacted. If enacted, it would add section 397-c to the general business law to regulate automatic license plate reader (ALPR) systems. Section 397-c would make it unlawful for any government entity (including contractors) to operate or use ALPR systems or captured plate data, except for limited purposes (subd. 2): comparing data to hot lists or manually entered plates for investigations of vehicles tied to felony arrest warrants, unregistered or uninsured vehicles, missing persons, stolen vehicles, or felonies in progress; parking facility enforcement; secured-area access control; electronic toll collection; and enforcing the vehicle and traffic law. Subd. 3 would bar selling, sharing, or transferring captured plate data to anyone other than a New York state government entity, with exceptions for federal judicial warrants or orders, certain out-of-state judicial warrants tied to listed investigations and New York felonies, criminal defense counsel, discovery, and FOIL requests. Government use of privately captured plate data would require a probable cause warrant. Subd. 4 would require deletion within 48 hours, with exceptions such as evidence-preservation law, pending fines or enforcement matters, defense counsel requests, and certain court orders. Subd. 5 would exempt captured plate data from FOIL, but ALPR audit/use/access logs (with plate and vehicle details redacted) and a requester's own vehicle data (with a sworn statement) would be public. Subd. 6 would require annual public reports on cameras, scans, hot-list matches, and retention, plus three years of access records. Subd. 7 would exclude unlawfully obtained or disclosed plate data and derived evidence from proceedings, though defendants may introduce it. Subd. 8 would allow private suits for actual damages or $1,000 liquidated damages plus attorney's fees, and allow the attorney general to seek declaratory and injunctive relief. Section 2 would amend subdivision 14 of section 2985 of the public authorities law to cover captured plate data held by toll authorities. Section 3 is a severability clause. Section 4 sets the effective date at 30 days after enactment, with subdivision 5 taking effect on the 90th day for previously collected data.

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