A Senate committee has rejected legislation that would have made it illegal to secretly use a GPS tracking device to track a person’s movements.
The Courts of Justice Committee voted 9-6 Monday to kill the GPS tracking bill.
Delegate Joe May introduced the legislation at the request of a constituent who was shocked to discover that a private investigator hired by his estranged wife had legally installed a GPS tracking system on the undercarriage of his car.
The bill carved out exemptions for law enforcement officials who obtain a warrant, parents tracking their children, any legally authorized representative of an incapacitated adult, owners of fleet vehicles and electronic communications providers like OnStar.
But senators struggled with whether the co-owner of a vehicle should be allowed to secretly track the other co-owner.