How a $1 Texas insurance fee is funding thousands of Flock cameras - The Texas Tribune

The Texas Legislature passed the fee unanimously three years ago, pitching it as a way to fight catalytic converter theft. The Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority, whose board is mostly appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, has since steered at least $30 million from that fund toward Flock camera purchases and maintenance. That includes no fewer than 95 grants helping law enforcement agencies acquire roughly 2,000 cameras, with another $15.9 million going to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

For people here in Lubbock, that likely means Flock cameras are operating nearby, even if most folks never noticed the fee on their insurance bill or knew where the money was going. Flock cameras are license-plate readers that log vehicles passing through an area, a tool law enforcement agencies have used to solve crimes but that privacy advocates have raised concerns about.

The fee was sold as a narrow fix for a specific crime. Three years later, it has become the financial engine behind one of the largest expansions of roadway surveillance in Texas history, and most drivers probably had no idea they were paying for it.