# 119-hr-4695: Facial Recognition Act of 2025 119-hr-4695, Facial Recognition Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Lieu, Ted [D-CA-36] (D-CA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-07-19). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4695 - As of: 2026-07-19 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: 119-hr-4695 - Congress: 119 - Title: Facial Recognition Act of 2025 - Status: introduced - Introduced: 2025-07-23 - Sponsor: Rep. Lieu, Ted [D-CA-36] (D-CA) - Cosponsors: 5 - Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement - Touches household money: yes - Last recorded action: 2026-07-19 ## Summary **This bill would impose strict limits on law enforcement use of facial recognition and build layered oversight through testing, audits, and reporting.** It focuses on narrowing searches, protecting civil liberties, and forcing transparency about accuracy and bias. - Law enforcement agencies would be limited to searches of reference photo databases and court-ordered searches, with narrow emergency use that requires a court order within 12 hours; governments that fail to comply could face a 15% cut to certain grant awards the next year. - People identified or subject to attempted identification would get detailed notice about the search, probe images, accuracy reports, and could sue for violations with damages up to the greater of profits from the violation or $50,000 per violation; evidence obtained in violation could be suppressed. - Agencies and vendors would face annual benchmark and operational testing submitted to the National Institute of Standards and Technology with $5.0 million authorized per year for FY2026–FY2029; failures found in audits would trigger suspension until fixed and require public reporting. ## Cosponsors (5) - Rep. Clarke, Yvette D. [D-NY-9] (D-NY), 2025-07-23T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Gomez, Jimmy [D-CA-34] (D-CA), 2025-07-23T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Ivey, Glenn [D-MD-4] (D-MD), 2025-07-23T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Veasey, Marc A. [D-TX-33] (D-TX), 2025-07-23T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Smith, Adam [D-WA-9] (D-WA), 2026-03-16T00:00:00.000Z ## Provisions PRIA read - Right to sue and agency penalties: benefit, high. If enacted, anyone harmed by unlawful facial recognition could sue the officer or agency. Courts could award the greater of profits from the violation or $50,000 per violation, plus punitive damages and attorney’s fees when appropriate. You would have two years from when you reasonably discover the… - Bans on surveillance and unproven matches: benefit, medium. If enacted, officers could not use facial recognition to track protests or target people by race, religion, gender, or similar traits unless trustworthy, local, time-specific facts link a person to a crime. Use for immigration enforcement would be barred. Images from body cams, dash cams, or drones… - Court orders before police face scans: benefit, medium. If enacted, police would usually need a court order to search faces in a photo database. Agency leaders would have to approve the request before filing it. Orders would last no more than 7 days and limit which photos or video can be used. Narrow emergencies would allow quick use, but prosecutors mu… - More transparency, audits, and photo cleanup: benefit, medium. If enacted, agencies would have to post a public facial recognition policy within 90 days. They would remove certain arrest photos starting 180 days after enactment and every six months after (minors, no-charge releases, dropped cases, acquittals). If facial recognition was used to identify someone… - Tighter DMV photo access and notices: benefit, medium. If enacted, states could not give bulk driver photos to law enforcement or vendors for facial recognition. DMVs could run or share searches only with a court order under this bill and only if state law clearly allows it. Each DMV would have to post clear notices in offices and online about how sear… - Yearly accuracy tests for police face tech: benefit, medium. If enacted, law enforcement facial recognition systems would need yearly accuracy and bias tests. New systems would need independent tests before use, and an independent party would run annual operational tests. The Justice Department would set a high accuracy standard, including limits on differen… ## Related bills - 119-hr-8800: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 - 119-hr-9877: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026 - 119-hr-3838: Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 - 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act - 119-hr-5361: George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2025 - 119-hr-51: Washington, D.C. Admission Act ## Sources - [119-hr-4695 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4695) ## Related - [119-hr-8800: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8800) - [119-hr-9877: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9877) - [119-hr-3838: Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery and National Defe…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3838) - [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973) - [119-hr-5361: George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5361) - [119-hr-51: Washington, D.C. Admission Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-51) - [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4695 (as of 2026-07-19).