Texas lawmakers added a $1 surcharge to annual auto insurance premiums in 2023, and the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority has used the revenue to install more than 3,200 Flock license‑plate reader cameras from El Paso to the Louisiana border.

Flock cameras capture license‑plate images along with vehicle make, model, color and other visual details, storing the data in a national database that law‑enforcement agencies can access without a warrant.

The $1 fee generated roughly $81 million, of which the authority allocated at least $50.8 million to 234 grants supporting camera purchases, maintenance and related policing expenses. An additional $15.9 million contract with the Texas Department of Public Safety funded 1,183 cameras, and $3 million approved in August 2025 will add 583 cameras on tollways.

Miguel Rodriguez, chair of the authority and Laredo Police Chief, said the cameras help disrupt transnational criminal organizations and improve catalytic‑converter theft investigations. The governor’s office announced in August 2025 that it was pausing state funding for local Flock grants, stating that Texas agency funds cannot be used for the cameras.

Representative Mitch Little said the large volume of data captured may conflict with Fourth Amendment protections, while Representative Jeff Leach, who authored the 2023 fee bill, said he was unaware the fee would fund license‑plate readers and that surveillance was not discussed during the legislative debate.

Critics such as Kenneth Feagins of DFW DeFlock argue that the expanded network enables invasive tracking of individuals’ movements and has led to documented misuse, including arrests for stalking and other misconduct by officers in several Texas cities.

Police officials in Dallas, Temple and Cibolo reported that the cameras increased leads in catalytic‑converter theft cases, helped solve hit‑and‑run and tire‑theft investigations, and expanded investigative capacity in jurisdictions reluctant to install the devices.

Lawmakers said they plan to introduce bills in the next legislative session to require warrants before accessing license‑plate data or to restrict the use of fee revenue, while the debate over balancing public safety with privacy remains unresolved.