BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1330|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1330
Author: Galgiani (D)
Amended: 5/24/16
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 4/19/16
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning, Stone
SENATE FLOOR: 37-0, 4/28/16 (Consent)
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block,
Cannella, De León, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall,
Hancock, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno,
Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach,
Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Stone,
Wieckowski, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hernandez, Runner, Vidak
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 6/23/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Missing persons
SOURCE: UDW/AFSCME Local 3930
DIGEST: This bill expands the current definition of mentally
impaired, which is one of the criteria of an at-risk missing
person, to also include cognitively impaired or developmentally
disabled" individuals.
Assembly Amendments delete the requirement that law enforcement
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Page 2
exhausts all available resources before activating a "Silver
Alert" for a missing person.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Requires the Attorney General (AG) to maintain the Violent
Crime Information Center (VCIC) to assist in the
identification and the apprehension of persons responsible
for specific violent crimes and for the disappearance and
exploitation of persons, particularly children and dependent
adults. The VCIC is required to assist local law enforcement
agencies and county district attorneys by providing
investigative information on persons responsible for specific
violent crimes and missing person cases. (Pen. Code §
14200.)
2) Establishes, upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature,
the Violent Crime Information Network (VCIN) within the VCIC
to enable the Department of Justice (DOJ) crime analysts with
expertise in child abuse, missing persons, child abductions,
and sexual assaults to electronically share their data,
analysis, and findings on violent crime cases with each
other, and to electronically provide law enforcement agencies
with information to assist in the identification, tracking,
and apprehension of violent offenders. The VCIN shall serve
to integrate existing state, federal, and civilian data bases
into a single comprehensive network. (Pen. Code § 14201.)
3) Mandates the AG to establish and maintain an automated
violent crime method of operation system to facilitate the
identification and apprehension of persons responsible for
murder, kidnap, including parental abduction, false
imprisonment, or sexual assault. This unit shall be
responsible for identifying perpetrators of violent felonies
collected from the center and analyzing and comparing data on
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missing persons in order to determine possible leads which
could assist local law enforcement agencies. This unit shall
only release information about active investigations by
police and sheriffs' departments to local law enforcement
agencies. (Pen. Code § 14203, subd. (a).)
4) Requires the AG to establish and maintain a computer system
designed to effect an immediate law enforcement response to
reports of missing persons. This system must include an
active file of information concerning persons reported to it
as missing and who have not been reported as found. The
computer system is to be made available to law enforcement
agencies. However, the AG shall not release the information
if the reporting agency requests the AG in writing not to
release the information because it would impair a criminal
investigation. (Pen. Code § 14204.)
5) Requires the AG to establish the Missing and Exploited
Children's Recovery Network, an automated computerized system
that has the capability to electronically transmit to all
state and local law enforcement agencies, and all cooperating
news media services, either by facsimile or computer modem, a
missing child poster that includes the name, personal
description data, and picture of the missing child. (Pen.
Code § 14206.)
6) Requires the VCIC to make accessible to the National Missing
and Unidentified Persons System specific information
authorized for dissemination and as determined appropriate by
the center that is contained in law enforcement reports
regarding missing or unidentified persons. (Pen. Code §
14209.)
7) Requires all local police and sheriffs' departments to
accept any report, including any telephonic report, of a
missing person, including runaways. Local police and
sheriffs' departments are required to give priority to the
handling of these reports over the handling of reports
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relating to crimes involving property. In cases where the
person making a report of a missing person or runaway,
contacts the California Highway Patrol (CHP), the CHP may
take the report, and must immediately advise the person
making the report of the name and telephone number of the
police or sheriff's department having jurisdiction of the
residence address of the missing person and of the name and
telephone number of the police or sheriff's department having
jurisdiction of the place where the person was last seen. If
the missing person is under 16 years of age, or there is
evidence that the person is at risk, the department shall
broadcast a "Be On the Look-Out" bulletin within its
jurisdiction. (Pen. Code § 14211, subds. (a)(b)&(d).)
8) Requires that if the person reported missing is under 21
years of age, or if there is evidence that the person is at
risk, the law enforcement agency receiving the report shall,
within two hours after the receipt of the report, transmit
the report to the DOJ for inclusion in the VCIC and the
National Crime Information Center databases. (Pen. Code §
14211, subd. (e).)
9) Provides that in cases where the report is taken by a
department, other than that of the city or county of
residence of the missing person or runaway, the department,
or division of the CHP taking the report shall, without
delay, and, in the case of children under 21 years of age or
where there was evidence that the missing person was at risk,
within no more than 24 hours, notify, and forward a copy of
the report to the police or sheriff's department or
departments having jurisdiction of the residence address of
the missing person or runaway and of the place where the
person was last seen. The report shall be submitted to the
department or division of the CHP that took the report to the
VCIC. (Pen. Code § 14211, subd. (g).)
10)Defines a "missing person" to include any of the following:
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a) An at-risk adult;
b) A child who was taken, detained, concealed, enticed
away, or retained by a parent illegally; and,
c) A child who is missing voluntarily or involuntarily or
under circumstances not conforming to his or her ordinary
habits or behavior and who may be need of assistance.
(Pen. Code §14215, subd. (a).)
11)Defines an "at-risk" to mean there is evidence of, or there
are indications of, any of the following:
a) The person missing is a victim of a crime or foul
play;
b) The person missing is in need of medical attention;
c) The person missing has no pattern of running away or
disappearing;
d) The person missing may be a victim of parental
abduction; or,
e) The person missing may be mentally impaired. (Pen.
Code §14215, subd. (b).)
12)Defines a "Silver Alert" as a notification system, that can
be activated as specified, and is designed to issue and
coordinate alerts with respect to a person 65 years of age or
older who is reported missing. (Gov. Code § 8594.10, subd.
(a).
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13)Provides that if a person is reported missing to a law
enforcement agency, and that agency determines that specified
requirements are met, the agency may request the CHP to
activate a "Silver Alert". If the CHP concurs that the
specified requirements are met, it shall activate a "Silver
Alert" within the geographical area requested by the
investigating law enforcement agency. (Gov. Code § 8594.10,
subd. (c).)
14)States that a law enforcement agency may request a "Silver
Alert" be activated if that agency determines that all of the
following conditions are met in regard to the investigation
of the missing person:
a) The missing person is 65 years of age or older;
b) The investigating law enforcement agency has utilized
all available local resources;
c) The law enforcement agency determines that that the
person has gone missing under unexplained or suspicious
circumstances;
d) 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 there are other factors indicating that the
person may be in peril; and
e) There is information available that, if disseminated
to the public, could assist in the safe recovery of the
missing person. (Gov. Code § 8594.10, subd. (c).)
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This bill clarifies that an "at risk" missing person includes a
person that is cognitively impaired or developmentally disabled
for the purposes of a "Be On the Look-Out" bulletin, and deletes
the requirement that law enforcement exhaust all available
resources before activating a "Silver Alert" for a missing
person.
Background
There are many protocols that apply to individuals who are
"at-risk" and missing. For instance, existing law establishes
that any "at-risk" and missing individuals' information will be
in the AG's quarterly bulletin to local law enforcement
agencies, district attorneys, and public schools and will be in
the AG's confidential database for missing children and at-risk
adults created for statistical and research purposes. Current
law also dedicates a statewide, toll-free 24/7 telephone hotline
to receive information to help locate missing children and
at-risk adults and to relay this information to the appropriate
authorities and also requires police and sheriff's departments
to immediately report and assess missing person cases and that
if the missing person is under 21 years of age or at risk, to
broadcast them a "Be On the Lookout" bulletin without delay,
within its jurisdiction. This bill clarifies that a mentally
impaired person, who is generally defined as "at-risk" if
missing, also includes a "cognitively impaired or
developmentally disabled" individual, which will help ensure
that current law also applies to help locate missing, at-risk
individuals with cognitive or developmental disabilities.
There can be an overlap in defining developmental and cognitive
disabilities. "Developmental" and "cognitive" are very broad
labels, and do not particularly indicate the level of skill or
ability that an individual may have." Developmental disability"
is a legal umbrella term that refers to disabilities present
before an individual reaches age 22. Congenital developmental
disabilities exist at birth, but developmental disabilities can
also be acquired post birth. Examples of developmental
disabilities are: Cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, hearing
loss, Down syndrome, mental retardation, spinal injury and brain
injury. Though not all of these disabilities necessarily result
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in decreased intellectual functioning, often people use the term
to refer to disabilities that have a component affecting
cognitive function. "Cognitive disabilities" generally refers to
any disability affecting mental processes, and examples include
mental retardation, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD), dyslexia, aphasia, brain injury, language delay and
learning disabilities.
[http://www.serviceandinclusion.org/index.php?
page=developmental]
In 2015, there were 83,144 reported cases of children who went
missing in California and of them 45,647 were female and 37,497
were male children.
[https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/missing/children/c
hildren-2015-annual-reports.pdf?] It is unknown from the data
how many of these children were cognitively impaired or
developmentally disabled at the time that they went missing. In
2015, there were 40,823 reported cases of missing adults. From
the total amount of adults who went missing, 23,958 were male
and 16,865 were female adults. Of these cases, there were 1,943
"dependent adults," which was defined as "any adult who has
physical or mental limitations that restrict his or her ability
to carry out normal activities."
[https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/
pdfs/missing/adults/adult-2015-annual-reports.pdf?]
The number of active missing person cases in California averages
around 25,000 individuals and currently, there are over 3,000
reports of unidentified individuals (including homicide victims)
in the California AG's database. [https://oag.ca.gov/ missing]
There is no waiting period to report a missing person and the
police and sheriff's departments across California must accept
any report, whether it is made by telephone of missing persons
and runaways, immediately and give priority to handling such
reports. Law enforcement officers regularly highlight missing
individuals on the Web site either in the Featured Missing
Children and Adult Cases Section or through the Missing Person
Bulletin. In order to add photographs of a missing person on the
Web site, family members must submit the photo of the missing
person to their local law enforcement agency through a missing
person's report.
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FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified6/23/16)
UDW/AFSCME Local 3930 (source)
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/23/16)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The sponsor of SB 1330, stated in
part:
The "Be On the Lookout" bulletin is a critical tool used by
law enforcement to aid in the recovery of missing individuals.
When a person goes missing, every minute is crucial. SB 1330
expands the "Be on the Lookout" requirements so that
individuals who are cognitively impaired or developmentally
disabled are added to the list of "at-risk" individuals
covered. This bill ensures that valuable time is not lost
during the recovery of a missing person.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 6/23/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth
Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto,
Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper,
Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim,
Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis,
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Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,
Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas,
Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: O'Donnell
Prepared by:Molly Lao / PUB. S. /
6/24/16 14:33:59
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