Technology and AI

A one dollar insurance levy paid for 3,200 number plate cameras, and the governor has now stopped the money

By Staff Writer  |  30 August 2026

A 2023 law added a dollar to every Texas motor policy to fight catalytic converter theft. The grants it funded built a surveillance network, and state agencies have been told the money cannot be spent that way.

Governor Greg Abbott ordered every Texas state agency on the night of Thursday 27 August to pause funding for Flock cameras, and his office confirmed the order the following day. The cameras are number plate readers that use artificial intelligence to record and store far more than a registration: the make, model and colour of a vehicle, and identifying details down to bumper stickers and dents. Departments that operate them can let other agencies search their devices, which is how a local purchase becomes part of a national lookup network.

Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesman for the governor, said that most of the money cities receive for the cameras comes from the federal government, and that to the extent any funding comes from Texas agencies, those agencies are clarifying that the funds cannot be used for Flock cameras.

Where the money came from

The trail runs back to a 2023 statute that added one dollar to Texas motor insurance policies to fight catalytic converter theft. It passed unanimously in both chambers, and legislators say there was no discussion at the time of spending the proceeds on cameras. The Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority, whose board is mostly appointed by the governor, has since used grants from that fund to help install at least 3,200 of the cameras. Almost 1,200 more are being fitted by the state police under a three year contract with the authority worth 15.9m dollars. At least 30m dollars has gone into the network.

A levy voted through for catalytic converter theft became the capital budget for a statewide surveillance network, without a further vote and without a debate.

What forced the decision

The order arrived as the misuse cases mounted. An officer in Lufkin faces 100 counts of misusing public information, accused of using the local cameras to watch eleven people over more than a year. In the past month at least six police departments and sheriffs' offices across the state have put officers on leave, opened investigations or brought charges. Cities and counties have begun cancelling their contracts.

This is something that is easily containable, easily controllable, and we're ensuring that whether it be through criminal crackdowns, whether it be through cancellation of contracts, whatever the case may be, Flock cameras are being reduced dramatically. They're going to be required to be used responsibly if they're used at all.

Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas

The manufacturer says it supports legislation with privacy guardrails, and that the technology helps officers solve serious crimes, find missing people and recover stolen vehicles. Objections have come from both parties. In July Keith Self, a Republican member of the House of Representatives for Texas, proposed a bill requiring federal agencies to obtain a warrant before reaching into camera data, saying that the Fourth Amendment right to privacy does not disappear because the technology is new.

What was authorised was a fund. What was built was an archive of everyone's movements, assembled a grant at a time. The pause stops the state money; it does not remove the 3,200 cameras already on poles, and the federal funding that pays for most of them is untouched.