BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Mark Leno, Chair S
2009-2010 Regular Session B
3
8
SB 38 (Alquist)
As Introduced December 22, 2008
Hearing date: April 21, 2009
Government Code
MK:br
EMERGENCY SERVICES: SILVER ALERT SYSTEM
HISTORY
Source: California Senior Legislature
Prior Legislation: 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: Older Women's League of California; California Alliance
for Retired Americans; AARP; City of Riverside;
Alzheimer's Association; Congress of California
Seniors; Aging Services of California; National
Association of Social Workers, California Chapter;
California State Emergency Communications Committee;
Family Caregiver Alliance; Pathways Home Health &
Hospice
Opposition:None known
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD A SILVER ALERT SYSTEM BE CREATED TO NOTIFY THE PUBLIC WHEN A
SENIOR PERSON WHO HAS AN IMPAIRED MENTAL CONDITION IS MISSING?
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PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to create a "silver alert" system
similar to the "Amber Alert" system to notify the public when a
senior person who has an impaired mental condition goes missing.
Existing law 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 within the appropriate local area. (Government Code
85949 (a).)
Existing law provides that the California Highway Patrol (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
Emergency Alert System, and where appropriate, other
supplemental warning systems, shall proceed after qualifying
abduction has been reported to a law enforcement agency.
(Government Code 8594 (b).)
This bill provides that if a senior person is reported missing
to a law enforcement agency, and the agency determines that the
person has an impaired mental condition and there is information
available that, if disseminated to the general public, could
assist in the safe recovery of the missing person, the agency,
through a person authorized to activate the emergency alert
system shall, absent extenuating investigative needs, request
activation of a system within the appropriate local area. Law
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enforcement agencies shall only request activation of the
emergency alert system for a missing senior person if these
requirements are met.
This bill provides that the CHP, if requested by a law
enforcement agency, shall activate the system.
This bill provides that the CHP, in consultation with the 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
emergency alert system, and any other intermediate emergency
agencies that may institute activation of the system, and where
appropriate, other supplemental warning system, shall proceed
after a law enforcement agency receives a qualifying report of a
missing senior person.
This bill provides that the policies and procedures created
shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
Procedures for transfer of information regarding the
missing senior person from the law enforcement agency to
the broadcasters.
Specification of the event code or codes that should be
used if the emergency alert system is activated to report a
missing senior person.
Recommended language for a missing senior person alert.
Specification of information that must be included by
the reporting law enforcement agency, including which
agency a person with information relating to the missing
senior person should contact and how that person should
contact the agency.
Recommendations on the extent of the geographical area
to which a missing senior person alert should be broadcast.
This bill provides that the CHP in consultation with the DOJ
shall review the "Silver Alert Plan" as adopted by other states
for guidance in developing appropriate policies and procedures
for use of the emergency alert system and, where appropriate,
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other supplemental warning systems to report a missing senior
person.
This bill provides that a "senior person" means any person who
is 65 years of age or older.
This bill provides that state and local agencies shall use
existing state funds or federal resources in carrying out this
section.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
California continues to face a severe prison overcrowding
crisis. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)
currently has about 170,000 inmates under its jurisdiction. Due
to a lack of traditional housing space available, the department
houses roughly 15,000 inmates in gyms and dayrooms.
California's prison population has increased by 125% (an average
of 4% annually) over the past 20 years, growing from 76,000
inmates to 171,000 inmates, far outpacing the state's population
growth rate for the age cohort with the highest risk of
incarceration.<1>
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
February 9, 2009, the three-judge federal court panel issued a
tentative ruling that included the following conclusions with
respect to overcrowding:
No party contests that California's prisons are
overcrowded, however measured, and whether considered
in comparison to prisons in other states or jails
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<1> "Between 1987 and 2007, California's population of ages 15
through 44 - the age cohort with the highest risk for
incarceration - grew by an average of less than 1% annually,
which is a pace much slower than the growth in prison
admissions." (2009-2010 Budget Analysis Series, Judicial and
Criminal Justice, Legislative Analyst's Office (January 30,
2009).)
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within this state. There are simply too many
prisoners for the existing capacity. The Governor,
the principal defendant, declared a state of emergency
in 2006 because of the "severe overcrowding" in
California's prisons, which has caused "substantial
risk to the health and safety of the men and women who
work inside these prisons and the inmates housed in
them." . . . A state appellate court upheld the
Governor's proclamation, holding that the evidence
supported the existence of conditions of "extreme
peril to the safety of persons and property."
(citation omitted) The Governor's declaration of the
state of emergency remains in effect to this day.
. . . the evidence is compelling that there is no
relief other than a prisoner release order that will
remedy the unconstitutional prison conditions.
. . .
Although the evidence may be less than perfectly
clear, it appears to the Court that in order to
alleviate the constitutional violations California's
inmate population must be reduced to at most 120% to
145% of design capacity, with some institutions or
clinical programs at or below 100%. We caution the
parties, however, that these are not firm figures and
that the Court reserves the right - until its final
ruling - to determine that a higher or lower figure is
appropriate in general or in particular types of
facilities.
. . .
Under the PLRA, any prisoner release order that we
issue will be narrowly drawn, extend no further than
necessary to correct the violation of constitutional
rights, and be the least intrusive means necessary to
correct the violation of those rights. For this
reason, it is our present intention to adopt an order
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requiring the State to develop a plan to reduce the
prison population to 120% or 145% of the prison's
design capacity (or somewhere in between) within a
period of two or three years.<2>
The final outcome of the panel's tentative decision, as well as
any appeal that may be in response to the panel's final
decision, is unknown at the time of this writing.
This bill does not appear to aggravate the prison overcrowding
crisis outlined above.
COMMENTS
1. Need for This Bill
According to the author:
Every year, many seniors with Alzheimer's disease or
other forms of dementia walk away from home never to be
seen again. In California, there is no integrated
system to promote the recovery of these seniors who are
at risk, once they leave their residence unaccompanied.
Today, according to the Alzheimer's Association, over
500,000 individuals in California have Alzheimer's
disease. By 2030, that number will double to over 1.1
million. Equally alarming is the Alzheimer's
Association estimate that 6 in 10 people with
Alzheimer's disease will wander away from their homes
or care facilities at some point. Without an
integrated system to rescue these individuals who are
vulnerable to disorientation and harm, they may fall
prey to exposure or other environmental factors, if not
recovered within the first 24 hours. Therefore, Senate
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<2> Three Judge Court Tentative Ruling, Coleman v.
Schwarzenegger, Plata v. Schwarzenegger, in the United States
District Courts for the Eastern District of California and the
Northern District of California United States District Court
composed of three judges pursuant to Section 2284, Title 28
United States Code (Feb. 9, 2009).
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Bill 38 is needed to address the needs of this growing
population of seniors with Alzheimer's disease or other
forms of dementia who are prone to wandering and going
missing.
Silver Alert initiatives are underway across the
nation. To date, eighteen states have established
Silver Alert Programs and fourteen states, including
California, are considering Silver Alert legislation.
On the federal level, in February 2009, the U.S. House
of Representatives passed H.R. 632 (National Silver
Alert Act) to encourage, enhance, and integrate Silver
Alert Programs throughout the United States. Then in
March 2009, U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), Chairman of
the Senate Special Committee on Aging, and U.S. Senator
Mel Martinez (R-FL), Ranking Member of the Senate
Special Committee on Aging, reintroduced a Silver Alert
bill (S.557). Both pieces of federal legislation would
create a national coordinator of the Silver Alert
communications network at the Department of Justice and
would establish federal block grants to the states
totaling $10 million per year through 2014.
2. Existing Alert System for Missing Children
Existing law creates an emergency alert system 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.
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
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needed to locate abducted children.
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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 )
3. Silver Alert
This bill creates a system similar to the "Amber Alert" system
for senior persons who go missing. It provides that if a
senior person is reported missing to law enforcement and the
agency determines the person has an impaired mental condition
and there is information available that, if disseminated to the
general public, could assist in the safe recovery of the missing
person, the agency should have the emergency alert system
activated. As with Amber Alert this bill provides that CHP in
consultation with DOJ and law enforcement groups shall come up
with the policies for running the system.
In support of the bill the AARP states:
[The] Silver Alert System is critical because it would
require law enforcement officials who are informed of a
missing senior who has an impaired mental condition to
disseminate available information to the general public
that could assist in the safe recovery of the missing
senior. Currently, there is no integrated system to
promote the safe recovery of a senior who is at risk
once they leave their residence in an unaccompanied
manner. This bill would ensure that state and local
law enforcement develop procedures to adopt such a
public alert system.
4. Use of the Same Resources
According to the CHP, since its activation, there have been 403
Amber Alert requests resulting in 138 activations, with an
average of about two Amber Alerts a month. How many Silver
Alerts will be requested? What impact will a silver alert
system have on the Amber Alert system if they will use the same
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types of broadcast and sign notification?
WILL THE CREATION OF A SILVER ALERT SYSTEM IMPACT THE CURRENT
AMBER ALERT SYSTEM?
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