BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 38
Author: Alquist (D), et al
Amended: 5/28/09
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 4/21/09
AYES: Leno, Cedillo, Hancock, Steinberg, Wright
NO VOTE RECORDED: Benoit, Huff
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 8-3, 5/28/09
AYES: Kehoe, Corbett, Denham, DeSaulnier, Hancock, Leno,
Oropeza, Yee
NOES: Cox, Runner, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Wolk
SUBJECT : Emergency services: seniors
SOURCE : California Senior Legislature
AARP
DIGEST : This bill requires the California Highway Patrol
(CHP) in consultation with local law enforcement officials,
to develop a uniform system for addressing situations
involving missing persons who are elderly and have an
impaired mental state. Implementation of any new duties to
local law enforcement will be contingent upon receiving
federal funding.
ANALYSIS :
CONTINUED
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Existing law authorizes use of the federally designated
Emergency Alert System to inform the public of local,
state, and national emergencies.
This bill requires, on or before January 1, 2011, the CHP,
in consultation with the Department of Justice (DOJ), the
California Emergency Management Agency, the California
State Emergency Communications Committee, the California
Broadcasters Association, the California Peace Officers'
Association, the California Police Chiefs Association, and
the California State Sheriffs' Association, to develop
policies and procedures providing instruction to law
enforcement agencies, other intermediate emergency
agencies, participating radio and television broadcasters,
and other media outlets on the implementation of a missing
senior person alert. The bill requires the CHP to
incorporate appropriate alert measures in developing these
policies and procedures.
The bill requires a law enforcement agency, if that agency
receives a report of a missing senior person, and if the
agency determines that the senior person has an impaired
mental condition and that there is information available
that, if disseminated locally to the general public, could
assist in the safe recovery of the senior person, to
immediately implement, absent extenuating investigative
needs, the policies and procedures developed by the CHP for
the implementation of a missing senior person alert to the
maximum extent feasible. The bill requires the law
enforcement agency, if the CHP has not yet developed those
policies and procedures, to immediately undertake specified
or other appropriate alert measures to locally disseminate
the information that could assist in the safe recovery of
the missing senior person.
The bill authorizes a law enforcement agency, if the agency
determines that the senior person may be in a vehicle or
has been missing for over 24 hours, to request that the CHP
activate the Emergency Alert System within the appropriate
local or regional area to disseminate the information that
could assist in the safe recovery of the senior person.
The bill also authorizes the department to activate the
Emergency Alert System if it determines that activation is
appropriate based on the available information about the
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missing senior person.
The bill requires the law enforcement agency that initiates
the missing senior person alert to inform the general
public within the appropriate local or regional area of the
termination of the missing senior person alert upon the
location of the missing senior person.
The bill provides that the above provisions become
operative upon the state's receipt of federal funding for
the purpose of implementing a missing senior person alert
system, as certified to by the CHP.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11
2011-12 Fund
State-mandated Local Program $20
$40
Federal
Law enforcement
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/29/09)
California Senior Legislature (co-source)
AARP (co-source)
Aging Services of California
Alzheimer's Association
Area Agency on Aging of Lake and Mendocino Counties
California Alliance for Retired Americans
California Assisted Living Association
California Broadcasters Association
California State Emergency Communications Committee
California State Employees Association
City of Riverside
Congress of California Seniors
Family Caregiver Alliance
Family Caregiver Alliance
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Gray Panthers
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
Older Women's League of California
On LOK Senior Health Services
Pathways Home Health & Hospice
San Jose Police Officers Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : California has the largest
population of seniors in the nation, and currently when a
California senior with Alzheimer's disease or dementia
wanders away from home, there is no consistent or uniformly
applied alert system to aid in his or her recovery. This
bill will set in motion the development of a Silver Alert
Plan for California, similar to those implemented in 18
states and pending in 14 others, to aid in the recovery of
a particularly vulnerable population of seniors, age 65 or
older, who have wandered away from home and are in need of
the quickest recovery possible. The law to be created by
this bill will become operative upon the state's receipt of
federal funding, as part of legislation now pending, for
the purpose of implementing a missing senior person alert
system.
This bill requires the CHP, in consultation with the DOJ,
the California State Sheriffs' Association, the California
Police Chiefs' Association, the California Peace Officers'
Association, the California State Emergency Communications
Committee, and the California Broadcasters Association, to
develop policies and procedures, on or before January 1,
2011, for a Silver Alert Plan, which, as implemented, will
alert the public with information to assist in the safe
recovery of missing senior persons, age 65 or older, with
impaired mental conditions, who have wandered away from
home.
This bill also requires that, if the CHP has not yet
developed those policies and procedures, and a law
enforcement agency receives a qualified report of a missing
senior person with an impaired mental condition, the agency
shall immediately undertake appropriate alert measures
already available to them to locally disseminate the
information that could assist in the safe recovery of the
senior person. Appropriate alert measures may include, but
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are not limited to, the following: neighborhood canvassing
and lighting of any local digital signs; Emergency Digital
Information System (EDIS); Critical Reach software; locally
focused, cell phone text message alerts; collaboration with
local 211 telephone system services providers; and Reverse
911 Interactive Community Notification System or other
similar system.
For those rare and extreme circumstances when a senior
person has been missing for over 24 hours or is likely to
be in a vehicle, a law enforcement agency that receives a
qualified report of a missing senior person may request
that the CHP activate the emergency alert system within the
appropriate local or regional area to disseminate the
information that could assist in the safe recovery of the
senior person. The department may activate the emergency
alert system if it determines that activation is
appropriate based on the available information about the
missing senior person.
RJG:do 5/29/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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