Council approval for acquisition of surveillance technologies
Seattle Mun. Code § 14.18.020
in effect14.18.020 - Council approval for acquisition of surveillance technologies
A. Unless exempted or excepted from the requirements of this Chapter 14.18 pursuant to Section 14.18.030, any City department intending to acquire surveillance technology shall, prior to acquisition, obtain Council ordinance approval of the acquisition and a surveillance impact report for the technology. A City department that directs a non-City entity to acquire or operate surveillance technology on the City's behalf is bound by the requirements of this Chapter 14.18 to the same extent as if the department were acquiring the surveillance technology.
B. 1.
The Executive shall establish a process for determining whether technology is surveillance technology as defined in this Chapter 14.18. The process shall take into consideration the following factors, including but not limited to (1) potential impacts and uses that may adversely affect disadvantaged groups or communities and (2) the likelihood that individually identifiable information will be shared with non-City entities.
2. Each determination that is made pursuant to the process in subsection 14.18.020.B.1 shall be documented in writing. If the process determines that technology is not surveillance technology subject to the requirements of this Chapter 14.18, a department may rely on that determination unless the Council designates that the technology is surveillance technology. Any such Council designation shall be filed with the City Clerk.
3. The CTO shall, by no later than 30 days following the last day of each quarter, submit to Council, by filing with the City Clerk and providing an electronic copy to the chair of the committee responsible for technology matters, the co-chairs of the Working Group, the City Auditor, the Inspector General for Public Safety, and the Director of Central Staff, a surveillance technology determination list that includes all technology from that quarter that was reviewed under the process established in subsection 14.18.020.B.1, along with supporting information to explain the justification for the disposition of items on the list. The CTO shall also post the list to the City's website.
4. The Council may at any time designate that a technology is or is not surveillance technology subject to the requirements of this Chapter 14.18.
5. If the Council changes the designation of a technology on a list required by subsection 14.18.020.B.3, the Council action shall be filed with the City Clerk and the Council shall direct the CTO to file an updated list with the City Clerk.
C. Prior to requesting Council approval pursuant to subsection 14.18.020.A, the department must complete one or more community meetings with opportunity for public comment and written response. The Council may direct the department to conduct additional community engagement before approval, or after approval as a condition of approval. The community meeting or meetings should be accessible, be noticed in multiple languages, be held in communities impacted by the proposed acquisition, and collect information about potential disparate impacts on disadvantaged groups.
D. If the CTO, in reviewing information technology resources under the process for mitigating privacy risk under subsection 3.23.030.P, determines that technology for which a department is requesting authorization for acquisition requires Council approval under this Chapter 14.18, the CTO shall inform the City department in writing of its obligation to comply with the provisions of this Chapter 14.18 and may provide technical assistance to the department for such compliance purposes.
E. The CTO shall post the latest version of all proposed and all approved SIRs to the City's website with an indication of its current approval status and, if available, the planned Council date for action.
F. Following Council approval of the acquisition and the terms of the SIR, the department may acquire and use the approved surveillance technology only in accordance with the procedures and protocols set forth in the SIR. Any material update to an SIR, such as to change the purpose or manner in which a surveillance technology may be used, shall be by ordinance; non-material updates may be made to the SIR by a department without Council action so long as the change is clearly marked as such in the SIR. For surveillance technology previously approved in accordance with this Chapter 14.18, any material change in surveillance capabilities, such as through technology upgrades, requires an updated SIR. Routine patches, firmware or software updates, and hardware lifecycle replacements that do not materially upgrade surveillance capabilities do not require an updated SIR.
G. Prior to submittal of a SIR to Council, the CTO may provide a written statement that addresses privacy rights, civil liberty or other concerns that are raised in the impact assessment created by the Working Group pursuant to Section 14.18.080.
(Ord. 125679, § 2, 2018; Ord. 125376, § 2, 2017.)
Source: City of Seattle, Seattle Municipal Code and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/wa/seattle/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT14HURI_CH14.18ACUSSUTE_14.18.020COAPACSUTEFetched: 11/1/2026