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 --