Oregon lawmakers are weighing legislation for next year to regulate local law enforcement’s use of license plate reading software and streamline the compensation process for wrongfully convicted individuals.
During a Monday hearing, the six-member Senate Interim Judiciary Committee heard about use of automated license plate reading technology across the state alongside broader efforts to target organized crime, lower the number of unrepresented defendants in Oregon and clamp down on patient deaths at the Oregon State Hospital.
Lawmakers are using meetings this week to preview legislation they’ll introduce during the 35-day legislative session that begins next February.
Restricting license plate data
Perhaps the most controversial proposal was regulating license plate scanning software, pitting privacy advocates against local law enforcement who say such technology has been key to dismantling sophisticated criminal operations. Cities including Springfield, Woodburn and Eugene have installed cameras with the technology and gone on to pause them amid documented instances of data-sharing with federal immigration authorities nationwide.
Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene and the committee’s chair, said he understands concerns around misuse of license plate data, adding that lawmakers may need to consider exempting such information from public records requests and creating criminal penalties for inappropriately accessing the data. A workgroup will review the matter with the goal of legislation in the 2026 session, he said.
“We will need to be looking at what are the penalties, or potential sanctions, for people who misuse and abuse clearly outside of the automatic license plate reader area,” Prozanski said. “If someone is a certified officer, they could, in fact, lose their certification as an officer in the state.”
Kevin Campbell, executive director of the Oregon Association Chiefs of Police, pointed to multiple examples of the technology assisting in the arrest of criminals accused of serious crimes such as rape, kidnapping and assault.
“It reads state-issued license plates that are publicly displayed in plain sight where there is no expectation of privacy,” he said. “It does not record conversations…identify who is driving, determine passengers or track a person’s continuous movement. It simply performs more efficiently the same function an officer can perform manually.”
Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner told lawmakers he arrested seven individuals allegedly associated with a well-organized burglary ring that has targeted Asian American households throughout the Pacific Northwest after using license plate reading technology from the Atlanta-based Flock Safety.
That company has been the subject of heated skepticism from local residents and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden. Skinner is advocating for Eugene officials to restart the cameras after the city paused their use in October.
“Many of the discussions are starting to conflate the issue…with a specific vendor, and I think we need to separate those out because the technology as an industry-standard practice is a crimefighting tool that all of us need in the state of Oregon,” Skinner said. “We’ve seen it certainly affect our livability and our safety here in the city of Eugene.”
Wrongful conviction may have narrower solution
Lawmakers also faced renewed calls to streamline the petition process for exonerated individuals to receive compensation from the state. That campaign traces back to a 2022 law that allowed Oregonians who have been wrongfully accused of a crime to receive reimbursements of $65,000 for each year of imprisonment and $25,000 additionally for each year of post-release supervision.
The Senate Judiciary Committee had unanimously approved legislation last session seeking to improve that process earlier this year, but it died in a budgeting committee after concerns that it could increase costs for the state. The bill would have allowed those who received clemency from the governor or placement on a “nationally recognized” registry for exonerated individuals to serve as proof of innocence.
Janis Puracal, executive director of the Portland-based Forensic Justice Project, said she had been working with the justice department on a narrower bill that would address any fiscal concerns for the state.
The legislation would create a timeline for the justice department to determine whether it opposes compensation, while preventing it from contesting cases involving a governor’s pardon or a court order finding a person was more likely than not innocent. It also would allow defendants to revive their cases if they can show the use of historically discredited testing methods such as hair comparison, bite mark analysis and comparative bullet lead analysis were key to their conviction.
“Changing the statute to make this timeline for action will definitely narrow the amount of litigation that we’re seeing in these compensation cases and will save my clients the years of re-traumatization that they’ve been going through to get to compensation,” Puracal told lawmakers. “But it will also save the state a significant amount of money on litigation costs from both sides.”
The Oregon Department of Justice has also been working for months to clear a backlog of compensation cases. Leslie Wu, a policy adviser for Rayfield, told lawmakers that more than half of the 43 wrongful conviction cases which have seen active petitions in court have been resolved as of September. Rayfield’s office is committed to clearing 75% of cases by the end of the year, she said.
“We have been committed to working closely to provide technical feedback on Janice’s concepts,” Wu said. “We were happy to work with them to ensure that any legislation that moves forward this short session will help our office continue to process wrongful conviction claims efficiently.”
By Shaanth Kodialam Nanguneri of news partner Oregon Capital Chronicle
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