Members of the General Assembly have rejected suggested changes the governor made to a bill on surveillance technology.
Should the Virginia Department of Transportation sign an agreement with the Virginia State Police to expand the use of license plate readers to interstates across the Commonwealth? That's a question that has vexed lawmakers for years, and this week members of the General Assembly rejected a proposal from the governor that would have allowed that expansion to happen next year.
"You know, there's folks who want to put pretty severe restrictions on it but also not allow law enforcement to expand the use," says Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell. "And I think that tension is going to continue to cause problems in terms of reaching any kind of compromise because nobody’s willing to compromise."
Expanding the use of license plate readers to allow police to use them on Virginia interstates is a nonstarter, says Chris Kaiser of the ACLU of Virginia.
"Majorities in the General Assembly do not support the expansion to highways, or at least unlimited proliferation beyond what we have now," Kaiser explains. "So, I think that will remain a sticking point."
Technically, the governor could sign the unamended version of the bill. But that seems unlikely because he already had the chance to do that and he offered an alternative proposal instead. That means this debate about the limits of surveillance technology will probably happen again next year.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
