MA H1946

Law enforcement agencies are prohibited from acquiring, possessing, or using biometric surveillance technology (including facial recognition and other remote biometric recognition) unless expressly authorized by law

Only the Massachusetts State Police may conduct facial recognition searches, limited to four circumstances: executing a warrant for felony investigations, emergencies involving immediate danger of death or serious injury, identifying deceased persons, or on behalf of other agencies with proper documentation

Emergency facial recognition searches require immediate documentation of factual basis and filing a sworn statement with superior court within 48 hours of receiving results

Defendants identified through facial recognition must be notified and provided all records about the search, including the algorithm used, accuracy rates, other possible matches, and the process for selecting them as a match

Annual public reporting by March 31 is required showing total facial recognition searches disaggregated by agency, offense type, warrant vs. emergency basis, and race/gender of search subjects