7 U.S. Cities That Banned Government Facial Recognition (Updated June 2026)
There is no federal facial-recognition law. A handful of cities wrote the country's de facto rulebook one ordinance at a time — here are the seven that set the templates everyone else copies, plus the only state with a comparable ban.
There is no federal law restricting how American police and city agencies use facial recognition. In the absence of Congress, a small group of cities has built the country's de facto rulebook one ordinance at a time. As of June 2026, fewer than two dozen U.S. municipalities flatly prohibit their own governments from using the technology — and a handful set the templates everyone else copies. Here are the seven that matter most, plus the only state to enact a comparable ban. Every entry links to its full sourced record on the Topic Index and the live map.
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1. San Francisco, CA — "Stop Secret Surveillance" Ordinance (Administrative Code Ch. 19B)
San Francisco, CA · Adopted May 14, 2019 — first major U.S. city to ban government face surveillanceSan Francisco was the first major U.S. city to ban government use of facial recognition. The Board of Supervisors passed the Stop Secret Surveillance Ordinance 8-1, amending Administrative Code Chapter 19B to bar any city department, including SFPD, from acquiring or using face surveillance technology. The same ordinance requires Board approval before any other surveillance technology is purchased.
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2. Somerville, MA — Facial Recognition Ban (Somerville Code Ch. 9)
Somerville, MA · Adopted June 27, 2019 — first East Coast city to ban government face surveillanceSomerville became the first East Coast city to ban government facial recognition when its City Council unanimously passed an ordinance prohibiting any city department or official from acquiring, possessing, or using face surveillance technology, codified in the Somerville municipal code. Sponsored by Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen.
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3. Oakland, CA — Facial Recognition Ban (Oakland Mun. Code Ch. 9.64)
Oakland, CA · Adopted July 16, 2019Oakland's City Council passed its ban about two months after San Francisco, amending the city's existing 2018 surveillance ordinance (Municipal Code Ch. 9.64) to add an outright prohibition on facial recognition. The council framed the law around documented racial-misidentification risks.
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4. Berkeley, CA — Facial Recognition Ban (BMC Ch. 2.99)
Berkeley, CA · Adopted October 15, 2019Berkeley's City Council voted unanimously to add facial recognition to the technologies banned under Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter 2.99 — the city's Surveillance Technology Use and Community Control ordinance. It was the fourth U.S. city, and third Bay Area city, to do so.
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5. Boston, MA — Ordinance 16-62 (Banning Face Surveillance Technology)
Boston, MA · Adopted June 24, 2020The Boston City Council voted 13-0 to ban municipal use of facial recognition, codified at city ordinance 16-62, sponsored by then-Councilors Michelle Wu and Ricardo Arroyo. The measure took effect after Mayor Marty Walsh allowed it to become law. At the time Boston was the second-largest U.S. city — after San Francisco — with such a ban.
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6. Portland, OR — Ordinances 190113 & 190114 (city + private-sector bans)
Portland, OR · Adopted September 9, 2020; private-sector ban effective January 1, 2021Portland passed the country's most aggressive pair of facial-recognition ordinances on the same day. Ordinance 190114 bans city bureaus from using the technology. Ordinance 190113 — the more famous one — bans private entities from using facial recognition in places of public accommodation (City Code Ch. 34.10), with a private right of action of $1,000 per day per violation. It made Portland the first U.S. jurisdiction to regulate commercial facial recognition.
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7. Minneapolis, MN — Council File RCA-2021-00187 (facial-recognition ban)
Minneapolis, MN · Adopted February 12, 2021 (13-0)Eight months after the murder of George Floyd, the Minneapolis City Council voted 13-0 to amend Title 2, Chapter 41 of its Code of Ordinances to prohibit MPD and other city departments from acquiring, possessing, or using facial-recognition technology. Tracked as Council File RCA-2021-00187 and authored by then-Council Member Steve Fletcher.
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8. Vermont (statewide) — Act 166 of 2020 (S.124)
Vermont (state) · Effective October 7, 2020 — the only near-total statewide police FR banVermont is the only state with a near-total statewide ban on law-enforcement use of facial recognition. Act 166 of 2020 (passed via S.124) prohibits Vermont police from using facial-recognition technology, or any information acquired through it, absent specific legislative authorization. The Attorney General's office has since asked the legislature to loosen the law for child-exploitation investigations, but as of June 2026 the ban remains in force.
What to watch next: two trends are reshaping this map in 2026. First, several cities (notably New Orleans in 2022 and Virginia Beach in 2023) have rolled back earlier bans, suggesting the political ceiling for blanket bans may have peaked. Second, attention has shifted from outright bans to use-case regulation — warrants, audits, vendor disclosure — visible in the NYC GUARD Act package and ongoing Massachusetts, Washington, and California proposals. For the full sourced record on every ordinance, browse the Topic Index or search any address on the live map.