Four bills covering surveillance privacy, missing-person searches, sexual assault evidence and booking photos cleared the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee during meetings the week of Oct. 12.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Tim Briggs, whose 149th District includes part of Lower Merion, announced Thursday, Oct. 15, that the committee approved the measures during two recent meetings.

All four now head to the full House.

The bill drawing the most local attention is House Bill 2771, sponsored by Rep. Jennifer O'Mara of Delaware County. It would set statewide rules for how government agencies use automated license plate readers (ALPRs), the camera systems debated in communities across Montgomery County, including Lower Merion.

HB 2771 would limit what agencies can do with the data ALPRs collect, bar improper sharing and require deletion within one year for data not tied to an active case. According to Upper Merion Area Spotlight reporting in September, the bill would also preserve local control, meaning municipalities could still adopt their own ordinances to permit, regulate or prohibit the cameras. Pennsylvania State Police would oversee how captured data is stored, and agencies would have to certify annually that required records had been destroyed.

The license plate reader bill was introduced Sept. 10 and referred to Briggs' committee Sept. 14, the Spotlight reported.

The three other bills cover different ground:

  • Senate Bill 1273, sponsored by Sen. Camera Bartolotta, would let police access Pennsylvania Turnpike toll records when an AMBER alert or missing endangered person alert has been issued.
  • Senate Bill 1212, sponsored by Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, would create a tracking system for sexual assault evidence kits and clarify which kits are classified as "awaiting testing."
  • House Bill 2840, sponsored by Briggs himself, would ban demanding or accepting payment to remove booking photos. It would also let people request removal and destruction of their booking photo if their criminal record is no longer publicly available.

"I appreciate the members of the Judiciary Committee for their work during our two meetings … and look forward to seeing these bills receive further consideration by the full House," Briggs said in the announcement.

The committee action comes the same week Briggs saw a separate bill, on property transfers, pass the full House 202-0.

Surveillance technology remains a live issue in the region. North Wales Borough has taken up talks on surveillance cameras, Main Line Media News reported. Lower Merion commissioners have separately weighed a $375,000 police drone program that raised similar privacy questions, Montco Today reported in September.

No timeline has been announced for when the full House will take up any of the four bills.