US state biometric laws: Washington excludes video recordings from the definition, Texas needs consent for face geometry, and the Illinois text could not be reached
Washington's biometric statute, RCW 19.375, bars enrolling a biometric identifier in a database for a commercial purpose without notice and consent, and excludes a photograph, video or audio recording or data generated from it from the definition. Texas' statute covers a record of hand or face geometry, requires consent and sets a civil penalty of up to 25,000 dollars per violation, per an unofficial mirror. The Illinois statute could not be fetched from the legislature.
The verdict
Verified
The document exists. The ledger fetched it at its publisher and quotes it.
Key facts
What the sources say
- Record ID
- EAD-2026-0031
- Kind
- Access rule
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- Last verified
- Added
- RCW 19.375.020(1): a person may not enrol a biometric identifier in a database for a commercial purpose without first providing notice, obtaining consent, and providing a mechanism to prevent later use.
- RCW 19.375.010(1): biometric identifier does not include a physical or digital photograph, video or audio recording or data generated therefrom.
- Texas Business and Commerce Code 503.001, per the only mirror that served the text: capture of a biometric identifier for a commercial purpose needs informing and consent, and destruction within a year of the purpose expiring.
- The same Texas section sets a civil penalty of not more than 25,000 dollars per violation, enforced by the attorney general.
- Illinois, 740 ILCS 14, and its 2024 amendment: ilga.gov refused every connection and every mirror returned an error, so no Illinois figure is printed.
Figures
Every number, with who measured it and when
- 25,000 dollars
Texas civil penalty ceiling per violation, per the mirror
Texas Business and Commerce Code 503.001, mirror at texas.public.law, secondary source, as of .
What it changes
For a robot maker collecting or buying hours
In the state with the clearest text, a robot's video of a worker is not a biometric identifier until something is derived from it to identify them, which is the same line the GDPR draws. Texas reaches face geometry. Illinois, the state with private lawsuits, is the one whose text this ledger could not read, and a maker recording people there should read it before this ledger can.
Sources
What this record was verified against
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 19.375.020Primary · 13 September 2026
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 19.375.010Primary · 13 September 2026
- Texas Business and Commerce Code 503.001, mirror at texas.public.lawSecondary · 13 September 2026
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Cite this record
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0, with attribution. The record ID EAD-2026-0031 is permanent and is never reused.
- In a sentence
- According to the GAGE Embodied AI Data Ledger (as of 13 September 2026), us state biometric laws: washington excludes video recordings from the definition, texas needs consent for face geometry, and the illinois text could not be reached.
- APA
- GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). (2026). US state biometric laws: Washington excludes video recordings from the definition, Texas needs consent for face geometry, and the Illinois text could not be reached. Embodied AI Data Ledger. Retrieved 13 September 2026, from https://www.gage.academy/tools/embodied-ai-data-ledger/records/EAD-2026-0031-us-state-biometric-law-video-recordings
- MLA
- "US state biometric laws: Washington excludes video recordings from the definition, Texas needs consent for face geometry, and the Illinois text could not be reached." Embodied AI Data Ledger, GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education), 13 September 2026, https://www.gage.academy/tools/embodied-ai-data-ledger/records/EAD-2026-0031-us-state-biometric-law-video-recordings.
- Chicago
- GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). "US state biometric laws: Washington excludes video recordings from the definition, Texas needs consent for face geometry, and the Illinois text could not be reached." Embodied AI Data Ledger. Last modified 13 September 2026. https://www.gage.academy/tools/embodied-ai-data-ledger/records/EAD-2026-0031-us-state-biometric-law-video-recordings.
- Permalink
- https://www.gage.academy/tools/embodied-ai-data-ledger/records/EAD-2026-0031-us-state-biometric-law-video-recordings
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