A Rhode Island legislative committee has approved a bill that would greatly expand the surveillance state through the deployment of license plate readers. For the first time in the US, these devices would be attached along Rhode Island highways and roads for the stated purpose of catching uninsured motorists from any state.

The House Corporations Committee approved the bill on a 7-2 vote earlier this week. The legislation spells out that the contractor for the project would get 50 percent of the fines paid by uninsured motorists ensnared under the program. The state and the contractor would each earn an estimated $15 million annually. Fines are as high as $120.

Many police departments nationwide are using surveillance cameras tacked onto traffic poles and police vehicles to catch traffic violators and criminal suspects. The proceeds from traffic fines usually are divvied up with contractors. But according to the Rhode Island lawmaker sponsoring this legislation, it's time to put surveillance cameras to a new purpose—fining uninsured motorists.

"It's no different than a red light camera. It's just looking for a different violation," Rep. Robert Jacquard, the bill's sponsor, told Ars.

The Rhode Island legislative session ends in days, so this bill may not pass in time. However, similar versions have been proposed before in Rhode Island and elsewhere, so this likely won't be the last time this type of legislation will be floated.

This Rhode Island bill contains big ramifications even though it comes from the nation's smallest state. Since the measure targets uninsured motorists from every state, the Rhode Island Electronic Confirmation and Compliance System Act (PDF) would tap into states' databases involving vehicle registrations and insurance status. The bill says that after a camera reads a license plate on a Rhode Island highway, it would be deleted within one minute if there is no registration violation.

The bill's language calls for:

An automatic license plate recognition system to electronically capture license plate images in two (2) seconds or less and noninvasively attempt verification of the insurance and when possible, the registration status of the interstate vehicle. If the vehicle is covered under an automobile insurance policy or properly registered or there is no conclusive proof of noncompliance as determined by a law enforcement officer, the automatic license plate recognition system shall erase the record of the vehicle's license plate within one minute.

Privacy advocates aren't the only ones opposed to this bill. The insurance industry, according to Rhode Island media, doesn't like it either.

Frank O’Brien, vice president of state government relations for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, has testified against the bill. He said that the state has recently adopted legislation requiring insurance companies to report lapses in policies. He also said there were both technical and privacy concerns about getting the states to supply Rhode Island with information about their drivers.

"It’s really difficult to see how the information exchange would work," O'Brien told the Providence Journal.

The measure prohibits the surveillance cameras from being used to collect tolls. It also says the cameras cannot be placed on moving objects like police vehicles.