League City's plan to add 16 Flock cameras along state roads is frozen after the Texas Department of Transportation stopped issuing new permits for automated license plate readers.

The permit suspension, reported Thursday, Sept. 17, by Houston Public Media, began Sept. 8 at Gov. Greg Abbott's direction, according to a presentation by the police chief in Schertz. TxDOT did not immediately confirm the start date. The freeze blocks all new camera installations on state-owned roadways, including permits approved but not yet built out.

The action lands less than seven weeks before League City voters weigh in on Proposition A, the Tuesday, Nov. 3, nonbinding advisory measure asking whether the police department should keep using the cameras.

As of Aug. 10, the League City Police Department had 55 Flock cameras operating and another 16 in the TxDOT permitting pipeline, according to Houston Public Media. Whether those 16 permits were issued before the Sept. 8 cutoff has not been publicly confirmed.

A TxDOT spokesperson said in a statement that the agency reviews permits to ensure license plate readers are installed correctly and safely along state-owned roadways. The suspension covers agreements that are approved but not yet installed. It does not affect cameras already in place, including more than 900 operated by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) statewide.

The permit freeze is the second state-level action targeting Flock cameras in weeks. Abbott ordered a halt to state funding for the cameras in late August after the Texas Tribune prepared to publish an investigation into a state agency that directed at least $30 million to help fund more than 3,200 Flock cameras across Texas. Hundreds of devices have been shut down since that funding freeze.

An estimated 13,000 Flock cameras were operating across Texas in August. At least two dozen cities and counties have moved to remove the cameras or end contracts with Flock Safety Inc., according to a Houston Chronicle tracker published Sept. 16. That tracker identified League City as the first Texas municipality to put the question directly to voters.

League City City Council voted Aug. 11 to place Prop A on the ballot. The measure asks whether the police department should continue using automated license plate reader cameras at fixed locations on public roadways for law enforcement purposes.

The result will not bind the council.

Council member Courtney Chadwell called it "essentially a city-wide straw poll" at the Aug. 11 meeting. Mayor Nick Long, who proposed the referendum, said at that same meeting that the vote still carries weight. "Even though it is nonbinding, I think it would be very foolish not to listen to the will of the people after they go out and vote for something," Long said at the Aug. 11 council meeting, as reported by KGTX7 News.

The city's 55 existing cameras have aided more than 300 criminal investigations over the past year, according to KHOU reporting in August. League City began installing Flock cameras in 2022.

Early voting for the Nov. 3 election runs Monday, Oct. 19, through Friday, Oct. 30. Election Day polls, including the League City Civic Center at 400 W. Walker St., open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.