California license plate reader law

California sets no limit on how long a record of where your car was can be kept. Each agency decides for itself, and some decide years. A private company logging your trips here has to delete them if you ask. You have no clear right to see what has been collected about you.

Whether a resident can obtain their own plate history here is unsettled. A records request may be refused on that basis, and that refusal would not be unusual.

Limit on how long data is kept: None

No statewide cap on how long ALPR data may be kept. Each agency sets its own in its usage and privacy policy. Source

Private cameras regulated: Yes

Consumer privacy law reaches private operators, including a right to deletion. Source

You can see your own record: Unsettled

No statute grants a resident access to their own plate history. Whether the Public Records Act reaches it has not been settled. Source

Sharing restricted: Yes

Sharing with federal and out-of-state agencies is barred for local agencies. Source

Audits required: Partial

The statute requires a published usage and privacy policy and security safeguards, but no independent audit on a fixed schedule. Source

Graded on all five criteria. Read against the statute itself.