BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 1047 (Alquist) - Emergency services: missing persons - Silver
Alert.
Amended: April 16, 2012 Policy Vote: Public Safety 6-1
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: May 24, 2012 Consultant: Jolie Onodera
SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Bill Summary: SB 1047 would establish a "Silver Alert"
notification system to inform the public when a person who is 65
years of age or older is reported missing, as specified. This
bill would require the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to, upon
activation of a Silver Alert, take certain actions to assist the
local law enforcement agency investigating the disappearance.
The program would remain in effect until January 1, 2016.
Fiscal Impact:
One-time costs in the range of $150,000 (Motor Vehicle
Account) for the CHP to develop policies and procedures,
provide training and develop resource materials for staff and
local law enforcement agencies.
To the extent the number of Silver Alert requests and
activations exceeds the number of Endangered Missing
Advisories (EMAs) currently issued for missing seniors, the
CHP would incur ongoing increased workload for staffing Silver
Alerts of an unknown, but potentially significant amount
(Motor Vehicle Account).
Unknown, potential indirect cost pressure on the Emergency
Digital Information System (EDIS) message system to the extent
there are a significant number of Silver Alert activations,
thereby increasing the volume of EDIS messages generated.
Background: Existing law provides for an emergency alert system,
commonly known as the "Amber Alert" system, authorizing law
enforcement to request the activation of the Emergency Alert
System (EAS) when a child 17 years of age or younger, or an
individual with a proven mental or physical disability, has been
reported as abducted, and is in imminent danger of serious
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bodily injury or death, and there is information available that,
if disseminated to the public, could assist in the safe recovery
of the individual. The CHP in consultation with the Department
of Justice (DOJ) and law enforcement groups developed the
policies and procedures that set forth how and under what
conditions the system is activated.
According to the CHP website, the Amber Alert system has
assisted in the successful recovery of over one hundred children
and the apprehension of over 120 suspects since it was
established statewide in California on July 31, 2002. There have
been 194 Amber Alerts activated as of April 2012 since the
program was established (approximately 19 alerts per year). In
order to maintain the program's credibility and integrity, the
criteria for activation are narrowly tailored. Over 360 requests
to activate Amber Alerts have been received but did not qualify
for the activation of such an alert.
In addition to the Amber Alert system, current law provides for
a "Blue Alert" system to notify the public using a quick
response system designed to issue and coordinate alerts
following an attack upon a law enforcement officer. The CHP has
not received a Blue Alert request since its establishment in
January 2011.
In cases where the statutory criteria for an Amber Alert are not
met and an agency has reason to believe a person is at risk or
endangered, and distributing information to help to locate the
person is sought, an Endangered Missing Advisory (EMA) can be
issued. An EMA involves many of the same alert/notification
measures utilized during an Amber Alert, except there is no
activation of the EAS (the EAS message pre-empts radio and
television broadcasts and is preceded and concluded with alert
tones) and typically Changeable Message Signs (CMS) are not
utilized. An EMA generally consists of an Emergency Digital
Information Service (EDIS) message, Critical Reach flyer,
be-on-the-lookout broadcasts, and border notifications (if
appropriate).
Proposed Law: This bill would provide 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. If a person is reported missing to a
law enforcement agency, that agency shall request the CHP
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activate a Silver Alert if the law enforcement agency determines
that all of the following conditions are met:
The missing person is 65 years of age or older.
The investigating law enforcement agency has utilized
all available local resources.
The law enforcement agency determines that the person
has gone missing under unexplained or suspicious
circumstances.
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.
There is information available that, if disseminated to
the public, could assist in the safe recovery of the
missing person.
This bill would require the CHP to activate a Silver Alert
within the geographical area requested by the investigating law
enforcement agency. Upon activation of a Silver Alert, the CHP
would be required to assist the law enforcement agency by
issuing a be-on-the-lookout, an EDIS message, or an electronic
flyer. Further, radio, television, cable, and satellite systems
would be encouraged to, but not required to, cooperate with
disseminating the information in a Silver Alert.
The provisions of the bill would be in effect until January 1,
2016, unless a later enacted statute deletes or extends that
date.
Related Legislation: SB 839 (Runner) Chapter 31/2010 established
a "Blue Alert" system of public notification relating to
emergencies endangering law enforcement officers modeled after
the Amber Alert system.
SB 38 (Alquist) 2009 required the CHP to develop policies
regarding a missing senior person alert program and to activate
an Emergency Alert System (EAS) for a missing senior, as
specified. This bill was held on the Assembly Appropriations
Suspense File.
Federal Legislation: H.R. 112 proposes to encourage, enhance,
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and integrate Silver Alert plans throughout the United States,
to authorize $4 million in grants for the assistance of
organizations to find missing seniors. This measure has been
pending in the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime,
Terrorism, and Homeland Security since January 2011.
S. 1263 proposes to encourage, enhance, and integrate Silver
Alert plans throughout the United States and authorizes $500,000
to be appropriated to the Department of Justice to establish a
Silver Alert communications network. This measure has been
pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee since June 2011.
Staff Comments: The establishment of a Silver Alert statewide
plan notification system for missing seniors will likely result
in increased workload to the CHP and local law enforcement
agencies. The Silver Alert system proposed under the provisions
of this bill would utilize the same CHP resources required under
the existing alert systems, with the exception that a Silver
Alert would not activate the EAS.
The criteria for a Silver Alert would mirror that for an EMA
with the exception that a Silver Alert would be specific to
persons 65 years of age or older. According to the CHP, the
criterion for a Silver Alert requiring the investigating law
enforcement agency to utilize all available resources is current
practice and is done prior to an EMA being activated. Requests
for EMA activation are at law enforcement agencies' discretion
in determining what resources would be the most appropriate for
transmitting information to other law enforcement agencies, the
media, and the public. Because the provisions of this bill
mandate that law enforcement request activation of a Silver
Alert if certain criteria are met, more requests and subsequent
activations could result.
One-time costs potentially in excess of $150,000 would be
incurred for CHP personnel time to rewrite policies/procedures,
provide training to staff and local law enforcement, and
develop/distribute reference materials such as manuals and
brochures related to the Silver Alert.
It is unknown how many Silver Alerts would be activated each
year under the specified criteria, but local law enforcement and
the CHP would be required to review each request for activation,
requiring existing resources to be redirected for this workload.
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The California DOJ Missing Adults Report indicated over 2,100
dependent adults (defined as any adult who has a physical or
mental limitation that restricts his/her ability to carry out
normal activities, i.e., Alzheimer's) were reported missing to
law enforcement in 2010. Although the data is not age specific,
if five percent met the specified criteria, over 100 Silver
Alerts could potentially be activated in one year. This would be
a significant increase over the 17 and 26 EMAs activated in 2010
and 2011, respectively.
This bill could result in annual ongoing state-reimbursable
local mandate costs for law enforcement procedures and training
to the extent the provisions of this bill require additional
workload above the processes in place for EMAs. At a minimum, it
appears training on the new Silver Alert designation and
criteria would be required. The magnitude of costs would be
dependent on the number of alert requests and activations.
Upon activation of a Silver Alert, the CHP is required to assist
the investigating law enforcement agency by issuing a
be-on-the-lookout, an EDIS message, or an electronic flyer. EDIS
messages are activated by the California Emergency Management
Agency (CalEMA). CalEMA indicates there would be no direct costs
to activate or generate an EDIS message, however, indirect costs
for maintaining the current system are approximately $200,000
annually. To the extent the provisions of this bill result in a
significant increase in the number of EDIS activations required
could have an unknown effect on the existing system, resulting
in cost pressure for additional system maintenance.
Author's amendments remove the mandate on local law enforcement
and instead make the request to the CHP to activate a Silver
Alert permissive.