BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY Senator Loni Hancock, Chair S 2011-2012 Regular Session B 1 0 4 SB 1047 (Alquist) 7 As Amended March 29, 2012 Hearing date: April 10, 2012 Government Code SV:mc EMERGENCY SERVICES: "SILVER ALERT" NOTIFICATION SYSTEM HISTORY Source: California Senior Legislature Prior Legislation: SB 839 (Runner) - Ch. 31, Stats. 2010 SB 38 (Alquist) - 2009, held in Assembly Appropriations AB 415 (Runner and Maddox) - Ch. 517, Stats. 2002 HR 8 (Runner) - adopted by the Assembly, 2001 SB 6 (Rainey) - Ch. 579, Stats. 1999 Support: Alzheimer's Association; Congress of California Seniors Opposition:None known KEY ISSUE SHOULD A "SILVER ALERT" NOTIFICATION SYSTEM BE CREATED TO INFORM THE PUBLIC WHEN A PERSON WHO IS 65 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER IS MISSING, AS (More) SB 1047 (Alquist) Page 2 SPECIFIED? PURPOSE The purpose of this bill is to establish a "Silver Alert" notification system designed to issue and coordinate alerts to inform the public when a person who is 65 years or older is missing, as specified. This program would remain in effect until January 1, 2016, and would require the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to prepare an evaluation report of the program by September 1, 2014. Existing law , commonly known as "Amber Alert," provides that if an abduction has been reported to a law enforcement agency and the agency determines that a child 17 years of age or younger, or an individual with a proven mental or physical disability, has been abducted and is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death and there is information available that, if disseminated to the general public, could assist in the safe recovery of the victim, the agency, shall request the activation of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) within the appropriate local area. (Government Code § 8594 (a).) Existing law provides that the CHP, in consultation with the Department of Justice (DOJ) as well as a representative from the California State Sheriffs' Association, the California Police Chiefs' Association and the California Peace Officers' Association, shall develop policies and procedures providing instruction specifying how law enforcement agencies, broadcasters participating in the EAS, and where appropriate, other supplemental warning systems, shall proceed after a qualifying abduction has been reported to a law enforcement agency. (Government Code § 8594 (b).) (More) SB 1047 (Alquist) Page 3 Existing law generally provides that "Blue Alert" means a quick response system designed to issue and coordinate alerts following an attack upon a law enforcement officer. (Government Code § 8594.5 (a).) Existing law provides that upon the request of an authorized person at a law enforcement agency that is investigating an offense where a law enforcement officer has been killed, suffers serious bodily injury, or is assaulted with a deadly weapon, and the suspect has fled the scene of the offense, the CHP shall activate the EAS and issue a Blue Alert if all of the following conditions are met: (1) A law enforcement officer has been killed, suffers serious bodily injury, or is assaulted with a deadly weapon, and the suspect has fled the scene of the offense. (2) A law enforcement agency investigating the offense has determined that the suspect poses an imminent threat to the public or other law enforcement personnel. (3) A detailed description of the suspect's vehicle or license plate is available for broadcast. (4) Public dissemination of available information may help avert further harm or accelerate apprehension of the suspect. (5) The CHP has been designated to use the federally authorized EAS for the issuance of blue alerts. (Government Code § 8594.5 (b).) This bill provides that a "Silver Alert" means a notification system designed to issue and coordinate alerts with respect to a person who is 65 years of age or older who is reported missing. Specifically, this bill provides that if a person is reported missing to a law enforcement agency, that law enforcement agency shall request the CHP to activate a "Silver Alert" if that agency determines that the following requirements are met: 1. The missing person is 65 years of age or older; 2. The investigating law enforcement agency has (More) SB 1047 (Alquist) Page 4 utilized all available local resources; 3. The law enforcement agency determines that the person has gone missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances; 4. The law enforcement agency believes that the person is in danger because of age, health, mental or physical disability, environment or weather conditions, that the person is in the company of a potentially dangerous person, or that there are other factors indicating that the person may be in peril; and 5. There is information that, if disseminated to the public could assist in the safe recovery of the missing person. This bill provides that the CHP shall activate a Silver Alert within the geographical area requested by the investigating law enforcement agency. This bill provides that upon activation of a Silver Alert, the CHP shall assist the investigating law enforcement agency by issuing a be-on-the-lookout, an Emergency Information Service message, or an electronic flyer. This bill provides that radio, television, and cable and satellite systems are encouraged to, but not required to, cooperate with disseminating the information contained in a Silver Alert. This bill provides that the Silver Alert program shall remain in effect until January 1, 2016, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2016, deletes or extends that date. This bill provides that no later than September 1, 2014, the CHP shall prepare and submit to the Legislature a report evaluating the Silver Alert program and includes the following elements: 1. The total number of Silver Alerts requested and activated, and the number of persons recovered as a (More) SB 1047 (Alquist) Page 5 result of a Silver Alert activation; 2. Any identified costs related to implementation of the Silver Alert program; and 3. A recommendation as to whether this section shall be repealed or extended. RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION ("ROCA") In response to the unresolved prison capacity crisis, since early 2007 it has been the policy of the chair of the Senate Committee on Public Safety and the Senate President pro Tem to hold legislative proposals which could further aggravate prison overcrowding through new or expanded felony prosecutions. Under the resulting policy known as "ROCA" (which stands for "Receivership/Overcrowding Crisis Aggravation"), the Committee has held measures which create a new felony, expand the scope or penalty of an existing felony, or otherwise increase the application of a felony in a manner which could exacerbate the prison overcrowding crisis by expanding the availability or length of prison terms (such as extending the statute of limitations for felonies or constricting statutory parole standards). In addition, proposed expansions to the classification of felonies enacted last year by AB 109 (the 2011 Public Safety Realignment) which may be punishable in jail and not prison (Penal Code section 1170(h)) would be subject to ROCA because an offender's criminal record could make the offender ineligible for jail and therefore subject to state prison. Under these principles, ROCA has been applied as a content-neutral, provisional measure necessary to ensure that the Legislature does not erode progress towards reducing prison overcrowding by passing legislation which could increase the prison population. ROCA will continue until prison overcrowding is resolved. For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's (More) SB 1047 (Alquist) Page 6 prisons has been the focus of evolving and expensive litigation. On June 30, 2005, in a class action lawsuit filed four years earlier, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California established a Receivership to take control of the delivery of medical services to all California state prisoners confined by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation ("CDCR"). In December of 2006, plaintiffs in two federal lawsuits against CDCR sought a court-ordered limit on the prison population pursuant to the federal Prison Litigation Reform Act. On January 12, 2010, a three-judge federal panel issued an order requiring California to reduce its inmate population to 137.5 percent of design capacity -- a reduction at that time of roughly 40,000 inmates -- within two years. The court stayed implementation of its ruling pending the state's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. On May 23, 2011, the United States Supreme Court upheld the decision of the three-judge panel in its entirety, giving California two years from the date of its ruling to reduce its prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity, subject to the right of the state to seek modifications in appropriate circumstances. Design capacity is the number of inmates a prison can house based on one inmate per cell, single-level bunks in dormitories, and no beds in places not designed for housing. Current design capacity in CDCR's 33 institutions is 79,650. On January 6, 2012, CDCR announced that California had cut prison overcrowding by more than 11,000 inmates over the last six months, a reduction largely accomplished by the passage of Assembly Bill 109. Under the prisoner-reduction order, the inmate population in California's 33 prisons must be no more than the following: 167 percent of design capacity by December 27, 2011 (133,016 inmates); 155 percent by June 27, 2012; 147 percent by December 27, 2012; and 137.5 percent by June 27, 2013. (More) SB 1047 (Alquist) Page 7 This bill does not aggravate the prison overcrowding crisis described above under ROCA. COMMENTS 1. Stated Need for This Bill According to the author: Despite the fact that vulnerable people, especially those with Alzheimer's disease or related dementia, go missing every day, there is no statewide protocol to help find them. Without a consistent alert system implemented by law enforcement to quickly recover these individuals who are at risk of disorientation and harm, they may fall prey to depraved individuals, exposure, or other environmental factors. It is estimated that over 500,000 individuals in California have Alzheimer's, and that number is expected to rise steadily as Baby Boomers live longer. Sixty percent of these individuals will wander at some point in their lives. The first 24 hours are critical. If not found within 24 hours, up to half of wandering seniors with dementia suffers serious injury or death, according to the Alzheimer's Association. While most seniors who have wandered are found before it is too late, SB 1047 would ensure that a safety net exists for those who are not so quickly recovered. 2. Existing Alert Systems for Missing Children and Law Enforcement Officers Existing law creates an EAS for law enforcement to alert the public when a child has been abducted and is believed to be in imminent danger. This is commonly known as the "Amber Alert" system. CHP along with DOJ and law enforcement groups create the policies that set forth how and when the alert system is activated. (More) SB 1047 (Alquist) Page 8 According to the CHP Web site: AMBER ALERT empowers law enforcement, the media and the public to combat abduction by sending out immediate, up-to-date information that aids in the child's safe recovery. Using radio, television, the Internet, highway information signs, and even cell phone networks, AMBER ALERT gives the public the information needed to locate abducted children. The AMBER ALERT Program has helped in successfully recovering over one hundred children since it was established statewide in California on July 31, 2002. (http://www.chp.ca.gov/amber/index.html#Guidelines) In addition to the Amber Alert system, existing law creates a similar EAS known as the "Blue Alert" system. Law enforcement issues a Blue Alert to notify the public when a law enforcement officer has been attacked and the suspect has fled the scene of the offense. According to the CHP Web site: The purpose of the Blue Alert Program is to establish a quick response system designed to issue and coordinate alerts following a violent attack upon a law enforcement officer. The goal of a Blue Alert is to provide immediate information to the public about violent suspects via media broadcasts, and other notification resources to solicit help from the public in the safe and swift apprehension of the suspect. ( http://www.chp.ca.gov/blue/) The CHP has not received a Blue Alert request since it was established in January 2011. 3. Missing Persons that Do Not Qualify for Amber Alert The Amber Alert program started in 1997 in Texas and after the (More) SB 1047 (Alquist) Page 9 passage of federal legislation, The Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act, has evolved to a national network of law enforcement coordination and partnership. In order to maintain the credibility and integrity of the Amber Alert program and the use of the EAS, the criteria to activate the Amber Alert is very narrow. In 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recognized the gap in the safe recovery of missing children and persons who do not meet the strict requirements to issue an Amber Alert and established the Endangered Missing Advisory Project. This project helped develop a nationwide plan to provide guidelines and encouraged the use of Endangered Missing Advisory (EMA). According to the U.S. DOJ Guide for Implementing or Enhancing an Endangered Missing Advisory (2011): The EMA is a tool that gives law enforcement and other key partners a formal action plan to safely recover missing children who do not fit the AMBER Alert criteria. It also provides a way to help recover missing adults in cases where no systematic recovery plan exists?. The EMA is designed to provide a rapid response to safely recover missing persons who may be in danger. Issuance of an EMA can help raise awareness of the dangers that missing persons face and reduce the pressure on police to issue an AMBER Alert in cases that do not fit the criteria. More important, the EMA provides a strategy for law enforcement to notify the public and save lives. (More) Currently, 34 states have formal EMA plans to help recover missing persons who fall outside the scope of the Amber Alert program. Sixteen states have EMA programs without age restrictions and 18 states have EMA programs that include age restrictions, most of them involving senior citizens. This proposal establishes a coordinated statewide plan to quickly respond to missing individuals 65 years and older. Members of the Committee may wish to discuss the current practices of law enforcement agency for cases that do not qualify for the issuance of the Amber Alert. According to the CHP, 356 Amber Alerts have been requested since the program was established in 2002 that did not meet the requirements of the Amber Alert. CHP has advised committee staff that since 2009, the CHP has issued some level of notification for missing persons who do not meet current Amber Alert statutory criteria. Members of the Committee may wish to consider a broader policy that does not include age restriction and addresses the gaps in the search and recovery efforts in California for cases that do not fit the Amber Alert requirements. 4. Resources The Silver Alert system proposed by this bill would use the same resources required under the existing alert systems, except a Silver Alert would not activate the EAS where the messages are preceded and concluded with alert tones. According to the CHP, 190 Amber Alerts have been activated, which is an average of about two Amber Alerts per month. Although the Silver Alert system would not trigger the EAS, it would use the same types of broadcasts and sign notifications. Members of the Committee may wish to discuss with the CHP or the author how many Silver Alerts could be activated if this program becomes law. WOULD THE "SILVER ALERT" PROGRAM PROPOSED BY THIS BILL IMPACT THE EXISTING AMBER ALERT SYSTEM? WOULD THE "SILVER ALERT" PROGRAM PROPOSED BY THIS BILL IMPACT THE CHP'S EXISTING RESOURCES? (More) SB 1047 (Alquist) Page 11 5. Report This bill would require the CHP to prepare and submit to the Legislature, by September 1, 2014, a report evaluating the Silver Alert program. On December 12, 2011, the Governor issued Executive Order B-14-11 to reduce the number of reports agencies and departments are required to submit to the Legislature in an effort to "eliminatİe] government inefficiencies and reducİe] costs." The order provides that each agency and department report their findings to the Department of Finance (DOF), which will review the findings and work with the Legislature to determine whether specific reports have significant value or should be discontinued. Current law does not require the CHP to submit to the Legislature reports evaluating existing emergency alert systems, namely the Amber Alert and the Blue Alert. The CHP collects data for the Amber Alert program and posts them on their Web site. Members of the Committee and the author may wish to discuss the need for codifying the report proposed by this bill, and evaluate whether or not the CHP can provide the data and information, as required by this proposal, without mandating a report. ***************