Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
The Facial Recognition Act of 2025 places strict controls on law enforcement use of facial recognition technology, requiring court orders based on probable cause before officers can search state facial recognition databases, with limited exceptions for emergencies like missing persons cases. The bill mandates that arrest photo databases remove images of juveniles, people released without charges, and those acquitted of crimes within 180 days, with states and localities facing a 15% cut in federal crime-control grants for non-compliance. To ensure fairness and accuracy, all facial recognition systems must undergo annual independent testing by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to assess accuracy and potential bias by race, ethnicity, gender, and age, and law enforcement cannot use systems that fail to meet sufficiently high accuracy standards. The law includes strong protections against abuse, prohibiting the technology to track constitutional activities or discriminate based on protected characteristics, requiring corroborating evidence beyond facial recognition matches before arrests, and establishing enforcement mechanisms including evidence suppression for violations, civil lawsuits with damages up to $50,000 per violation, and mandatory annual reporting by state and federal agencies on all facial recognition searches broken down by demographics. The bill directs $5 million annually through 2029 to the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop testing protocols and training standards for law enforcement agencies.
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