Tlaib Introduces Bill to Prevent Restricting Access to Body Camera Footage with a Paywall

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) introduced the Stop Body Camera Paywalls Act to prevent local and state governments from restricting access to police body camera footage behind an obstructive paywall.

Recently, the state of Ohio adopted a new law to charge members of the public hundreds of dollars in fees to view or access police body camera footage. These videos are critical public records and are essential for accountability and justice for victims of police violence. Putting these materials that should be publicly available behind a paywall makes achieving accountability much more difficult, especially for poor and working class Americans who face the most frequent abuses from police.

“The public deserves full transparency when it comes to holding police accountable for misconduct,” said Congresswoman Tlaib. “This includes making sure body camera footage is accessible to all, and that poor and working class people are not being obstructed with expensive fees to access it. Police departments that engage in this practice to extort the public by hiding their body camera footage behind paywalls should not receive federal dollars. This is a necessary part of the wider effort to end police impunity for abuses and ensure the utmost transparency, accountability, and justice for our communities.”

States, cities, and towns across the country—including in Florida, Texas, Alabama, Arizona, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin—have joined this attack on transparency and accountability by imposing paywalls on body camera footage, dash camera footage, jail surveillance footage, and other critical public records.

The Stop Body Camera Paywalls Act pushes back against this harmful practice by preventing any state or unit of local government that obstructs access to these essential public records with a paywall from receiving federal law enforcement grants (the Byrne and COPS grant programs).

This legislation is cosponsored by Representatives Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Dwight Evans (PA-03), Chuy García (IL-04), Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07), Hank Johnson (GA-04), Summer Lee (PA-12), LaMonica McIver (NJ-10), Donald Norcross (NJ-01), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Lateefah Simon (CA-12), Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), and Nydia Velázquez (NY-07).

“Across the country, law enforcement have begun charging steep fees for access to body cameras and surveillance footage,” said Nancy A. Parker, Esq., Executive Director, Detroit Justice Center. “These costs place critical information out of reach, particularly for Black, Brown, low-income, and immigrant communities that experience the highest levels of police contact and are most likely to need footage to file complaints, pursue civil rights claims, or defend themselves in court. High fees limit due process, weaken public oversight, and keep patterns of misconduct hidden from public view. The Stop Body Camera Paywalls Act addresses this injustice by ensuring that body camera footage—legally a public record under state public-records and FOIA laws—can be accessed without financial barriers. At the Detroit Justice Center, we work alongside Detroiters to eliminate predatory fines and fees and remove barriers that prevent people from seeking accountability and safety. We are proud to support Rep. Tlaib’s Stop Body Camera Paywalls Act and urge Congress to pass this vital reform.”

“Body-worn cameras were adopted across the country with bipartisan support to strengthen trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve,” said Dani Hourani, returning citizens advocate. “When barriers or fees are placed on access to footage that was paid for by the public, it undermines accountability and can unintentionally erode the very trust these programs were designed to build.”

This legislation is endorsed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), American Friends Service Committee, Amnesty International USA, Center for Constitutional Rights, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Defending Rights & Dissent, Detroit Justice Center, Families United For Accountability, Human Rights Data Analysis Group, Japanese American Citizens League, Michigan Liberation, and Prison Policy Initiative.

A full copy of the legislation can be found here.

Watch Congresswoman Tlaib’s floor speech on the legislation here.

###