Friend –

Thank you so much for helping us defeat AB 1814, California's horrible face surveillance bill. After an outpouring of community opposition – there were hundreds of phone calls and thousands of emails – AB 1814 died before it could reach the California Senate floor.

We're writing a special note to you and all the others who took action on this bill. We rely on our base to give us power in the legislature. Know that the time you took to contact our lawmakers mattered. In fact, it made all the difference.

AB 1814 would have created one of the worst facial recognition laws in the country, blessing the use of government facial recognition under the pretense of reining it in. The harm would have been immense, especially for Black and Brown people, people seeking abortions, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and activists.

This is the third time in five years that we defeated legislation to greenlight face surveillance. The takeaway is clear: the people of California do not want to live under a face surveillance regime. And only surefire way to stop face surveillance is to prohibit the police from using it.

Stay on the lookout for future movement in this space, as well as other crucial technology and civil liberties issues. Until then.

With gratitude,

Becca Cramer-Mowder
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Legislative Advocate, ACLU California Action