BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Session AB 8 (Gatto) - Emergency services: hit-and-run incidents ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Version: July 6, 2015 |Policy Vote: T. & H. 11 - 0, | | | PUB. S. 7 - 0 | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Urgency: No |Mandate: No | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Hearing Date: August 17, 2015 |Consultant: Mark McKenzie | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: AB 8 would establish a "Yellow Alert" notification system until January 1, 2019 to issue public alerts to aid in the apprehension of a suspect following a serious hit-and-run incident. If a law enforcement agency determines that specified conditions regarding an incident are met, the agency can request that the California Highway Patrol (CHP) issue the alert on changeable message signs to assist in the apprehension of the suspect. Fiscal Impact: AB 8 (Gatto) Page 1 of ? Estimated one-time CHP costs of approximately $100,000 to develop policies and procedures, provide training, and develop resource materials for staff and law enforcement agencies for the new alert. (Motor Vehicle Account) Non-reimbursable local law enforcement costs to determine whether specified conditions are met in order to request activation of a Yellow Alert. (local funds) Minor and absorbable ongoing CHP costs to confirm specified conditions are met and issue Yellow Alerts on changeable message signs. (Motor Vehicle Account) 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 bodily injury or death, and there is information available that, if disseminated to the public, could assist in the safe recovery of the individual. CHP is required to activate the EAS for Amber Alerts, upon request of a law enforcement agency. Existing law also provides for a "Blue Alert" system to issue and coordinate alerts following an attack upon a law enforcement officer. Under the Blue Alert system, CHP must activate the EAS upon the request of a law enforcement agency that is investigating an offense in which 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; (2) the suspect has fled the scene of the offense and is determined an imminent threat to the public or others; (3) a detailed description of the suspect's vehicle or license plate is available; and (4) public dissemination of available information may help avert further harm or accelerate apprehension of the suspect. The Blue Alert system must utilize the state-controlled Emergency Digital Information System, local digital signs, focused text, or other technologies, as appropriate. In addition, existing law provides for a "Silver Alert" system to issue and coordinate alerts with respect to a person reported missing who is 65 years of age or older, developmentally AB 8 (Gatto) Page 2 of ? disabled, or cognitively impaired. A law enforcement agency may request a Silver Alert if that agency determines that all of the following conditions are met in regard to the investigation of the missing person: (1) The investigating law agency has utilized all available local resources and the person is missing under unexplained circumstances; (2) the agency believes the person is in danger because of age, health, mental or physical disability, environment or weather conditions, or other circumstances; and (3) there is available information that, if disseminated, could assist in the safe recovery of the missing person. Upon activation of a Silver Alert, CHP is required to issue a "be-on-the-lookout" alert, an Emergency Digital Information Service message, or an electronic flyer. Proposed Law: AB 8 would establish a "Yellow Alert" system to issue and coordinate alerts following hit-and-run incidents until January 1, 2019. Specifically this bill would: Authorize a law enforcement agency to request activation of a Yellow Alert if all of the following conditions are met: o A person has been killed or suffered serious bodily injury, as defined, due to a hit-and-run incident. o There is an indication that the suspect fled using the state highway system or is likely to be observed on a highway. o The investigating law enforcement agency has information concerning the suspect or specified identifying information of the suspect's vehicle that could reasonably lead to the apprehension of the suspect, as specified. o Public dissemination of available information could help avert further harm or accelerate apprehension of the suspect. Authorize CHP, upon request of a law enforcement agency and if it concurs that all conditions are met, to activate a Yellow Alert within the requested geographic area. Upon activation, CHP must issue the Yellow Alert via changeable message signs. Authorize CHP, if multiple alerts are requested, to prioritize the activation of alerts based upon any factors, including severity of the injury, the time elapsed since the incident, or likelihood that activation would reasonably lead to AB 8 (Gatto) Page 3 of ? apprehension of a suspect. Encourage radio, television, and cable and satellite systems to cooperate with disseminating information contained in a Yellow Alert. Sunset the Yellow Alert system on January 1, 2019. Related Legislation: AB 47 (Gatto), which was vetoed by Governor Brown last year, would have required, rather than authorized CHP to issue Yellow Alerts under certain criteria that are less stringent than the conditions specified in this bill. The veto message for AB 47 stated the following: This bill would establish a "Yellow Alert" notification system, which could be activated in response to a hit-and-run incident. I have just signed SB 1127, to add developmentally disabled persons to the missing persons alert system. This expansion should be tested before adding more categories of individuals that could overload the system. Staff Comments: The CHP's Emergency Notification and Tactical Alert Center (ENTAC) was created as a result of the implementation of the AMBER Alert system in August of 2002 and utilizes one full-time sergeant and two full-time officers to manage the program. The ENTAC is responsible for the activation of AMBER Alerts, Silver Alerts, and Blue Alerts. The CHP indicates that staffing for the program was not increased following the addition of Silver Alert and Blue Alert activation systems. Data from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Record System indicates over 10,000 hit-and-run traffic collisions resulting in injury or death every year in California. While the data does not indicate the degree of injury sustained by victims in the incidents, about two percent of hit-and-run collisions resulted in death. It is unknown how many potential Yellow Alerts will be requested by law enforcement and ultimately activated by the CHP. Apart from the severity of the AB 8 (Gatto) Page 4 of ? hit-and-run incident, the bill also requires an investigating law enforcement agency to determine that a suspect has fled the scene using the state highway system, or is likely to be observed by the public on the state highway system, and to make a reasonable determination that activation of an alert would lead to the apprehension of a suspect before requesting activation. The bill also gives discretion to CHP to activate an alert, following a law enforcement request and a review of circumstances. As such, CHP expects that any new ongoing workload related to the activation of alerts would be minor and absorbable. -- END --