HARRISBURG — Legislation approved by the Pennsylvania state Senate on Wednesday would let police departments across the state refuse public requests for copies of video recordings by officers, unless a court orders the release.

The bill sets a sweeping policy to exempt recordings from body cameras and dashboard cameras from public records requests in Pennsylvania.

The Senate approved the bill, 45-5, without debate. It goes to the House of Representatives with just five scheduled voting days left in the legislative session.

It is supported by law enforcement organizations, including the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, but opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which said the bill would make it nearly impossible to obtain video that is in the public interest, even if the requester is in the video. The Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association also opposes the bill.

It was not clear Wednesday how many police departments outfit officers with body cameras or dashboard cameras in Pennsylvania, but the bill’s sponsor, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, said passing the bill will encourage more police agencies to do so.

The agencies, Greenleaf said, will not employ video cameras if they fear expensive and time-consuming public records requests that require hours spent copying video and redacting sensitive images.

“The major issue here is we want body cams, and we’re not going to get it if the townships, the police chiefs, are going to oppose it,” Greenleaf said.

The bill also clarifies that officers can gather body camera footage inside a private residence while on duty, in an effort to address police department concerns about violating the state’s surveillance law.