Law Enforcement Legislation | Significant Trends 2025

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Key Takeaways

Law enforcement legislation continued to be an area of interest for state legislatures in 2025, with all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and four U.S. territories introducing more than 2,400 bills. Almost 20% of those bills were enacted. They spanned topics such as law enforcement use of technology, the intersection of immigration enforcement, and employment policies, including recruitment, retention and benefits.

Employment Policies

Law enforcement employment and labor issues received the most legislative attention by volume, with nearly 500 bills introduced across the country. Legislation addressed a broad range of workforce-related topics, including compensation, benefits and officer recruitment and retention.

Recruitment strategies continue to be of particular interest to policymakers, as many states seek to address workforce shortages in law enforcement. Several legislatures advanced incentive-based bills like education benefits. For example, Missouri enacted the First Responder Recruitment and Retention Act to provide free college tuition for first responders and their legal dependents. Nebraska adopted similar legislation reflecting a broader trend among states to leverage educational benefits as a recruitment and retention tool.

Pensions and related benefits for law enforcement also saw increased interest in state legislatures. This includes enactments from Alabama, Florida, Kentucky and other states to enhance pension benefits, increase access to more favorable retirement plans, create options such as deferred retirement or service credit expansions, and allow retired law enforcement officers to return to work in specific circumstances without penalty.

Some states such as Iowa authorized length of service award programs for volunteer firefighters, while others have explored including more classifications of public safety officers in their retirement plans, including first responders, volunteer firefighters, conservation officers and corrections officers. These bills aim to boost recruitment and retention by making law enforcement and other high-risk careers more competitive and encourage experienced workers to remain in service longer.

In addition to the benefits provided to law enforcement officers themselves, a notable number of resources were allocated by states to families and dependents of officers who died in the line of duty. Colorado created a first responder death benefit fund and a process for the Department of Public Safety to distribute $1 million to the families of first responders who have died as a "direct and proximate result" of performing their official duties. Arkansas and California extended the age at which surviving children can receive benefits, allowing support to continue into early adulthood.

Technology

Nearly every state addressed law enforcement utilization of technology in 2025, with more than 200 bills being introduced. As artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent in many aspects of daily life, law enforcement agencies across the country are increasingly encountering and adopting technology equipped with AI.

Many of the introduced bills addressing law enforcement technology included AI provisions that were focused on regulating use by law enforcement and other state agencies. At least five states enacted legislation explicitly regulating law enforcement use of AI.

California enacted legislation covering the use of AI for police reports. Each local agency is required to adopt a policy to disclose if AI is used for a report. Each report must include the signature of the officer who prepared the official report. The new law also prohibits venders from sharing, selling or otherwise using information from local agencies in any way that is not specifically authorized by state law.

Enacted legislation in Montana prohibits the use of AI for cognitive behavioral manipulation, unlawful discrimination, malicious purposes, or surveillance of public spaces. An exception to the public spaces restriction allows use to locate missing, endangered or wanted persons. Any material produced by AI and published by a government entity without human review must be clearly disclosed as AI-generated. Public interfaces using AI must also disclose this to users; with exceptions for law enforcement if disclosure could compromise investigations. Any AI generated recommendation or decision that could impact the rights, duties, or privileges and immunities of a person must be reviewed and be subject to rejection or modification by a human.

States also continued to legislate in other areas of law enforcement technology. At least eight enactments addressed the use of unmanned aircraft and at least 10 addressed automated license plate readers or other surveillance technologies. Nearly a dozen states addressed automated enforcement and law enforcement use of technology related to traffic safety. For more information on traffic safety measures and automated enforcement see NCSL's Traffic Safety Legislation Database.

Immigration

State legislation addressing the nexus of immigration and law enforcement saw an uptick in 2025, with most states introducing bills.

Some states enacted laws requiring state and local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts. For example, a Utah enactment requires a county sheriff to notify federal immigration authorities when preparing to release someone from jail after serving a sentence for certain class A misdemeanors or a felony if that person does not have legal status. Indiana enacted legislation requiring a county sheriff to be notified if a person is arrested and there is probable cause to believe that person is in the United States unlawfully. The sheriff must report that information to proper authorities.

Other states took action to regulate federal immigration enforcement activity. Delaware enacted legislation that prohibits any law enforcement agencies in the state from entering into, modifying, renewing, or extending any agreements under § 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This also applies to agreements made to house or detain individuals who are in custody of federal immigration enforcement for immigration violations. Furthermore, the bill requires that any existing agreements be terminated within 30 days of the bill's effective date.

California enacted legislation making it a crime for a law enforcement officer to wear a face covering, with some exceptions. The state also required officers not in uniform to visibly display identification, including their agency and a name or badge number. These bills have been challenged in court and are being litigated.

For more information on state enactments addressing immigration, see NCSL's Immigration Legislation Database.

Continuing Trends

In addition to the emerging topics above, other policing policy issues continued to receive attention. States enacted new laws related to training. Several were geared toward improving interactions with specific populations including people with autism or dementia. More about this and new "Blue Envelope Programs" aimed at enhancing law enforcement communication during traffic stops can be found here.

Beyond enhanced communication initiatives, alternative law enforcement responses continued to see interest from states. States acted on legislation for programs such as mobile crisis response teams or similar initiatives.

As states continue to address policing policy you can follow along with 2026 legislative sessions in NCSL's Policing Legislation Database. Additional information on state laws related to these and other law enforcement topics can be found in NCSL's statutory databases.