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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Vigil

DATE TYPED 3/10/05

HB 828/aHJC/aHFL#1

SHORT TITLE Amber Alerts as Cell Phone Text Messages

SB

ANALYST Peery

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Public Safety (DPS)

Public Regulation Commission (PRC)

Attorney General’s Office (AGO)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HFL #1 Amendment

The first House Floor Amendment to House Bill 828 includes paging service companies with

cellular service companies in providing notification of an Amber Alert through text messages.

The amendment clarifies the cellular service and paging service company’s customers will re-

ceive the text message at no additional expense to the recipient or to any service that accepts the

information from the authorized requester and delivers it to the cellular service or paging service

company. The amendment adds language to Section 2 pertaining to the authorized requester be-

ing able to designate one or more services to accept notification of an Amber Alert and deliver

the notification to each cellular service or paging service company. Also, the connections with

the services shall be made in the most technically efficient manner possible, using standard net-

work sharing protocol from authorized agencies or their respective communication contractor.

Synopsis of HJC Amendment

The House Judiciary Committee amendment to House Bill 828 clarifies that a representative of a

cellular services company may cause a text message to be sent to its customers that use a text

House Bill 828/aHJC/aHFL#1 -- Page 2

messaging service, alerting them that an Amber Alert has been declared. The amendment also

clarifies that a message may be sent to cellular service company’s customers at no additional ex-

pense to the recipient.

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 828 proposes changes to the current Amber Alert Act (Section 29-15A-3 NMSA

1978) to require State Police to develop a procedure to notify representatives of cellular service

companies operating in New Mexico of an Amber Alert. The proposed legislation requires each

cellular company to designate a representative to be on file with State Police as an agent for noti-

fication. Cellular companies are required to post a text message to all ext subscribers with the

Amber Alert notification.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

DPS states any legitimate advancement and enhancement to the Amber Alert Plan is a positive

step in improving performance.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

DPS reports there are technical glitches that must be addressed and standard operating proce-

dures must be promulgated by all stakeholders in the process. DPS states this requires regular

meetings and includes meetings with private companies to enlist their cooperation and collabora-

tion in this effort.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

DPS reports with more and more emphasis on technology based information sharing there are

still significant issues with multiple platforms that are unable to communicate. DPS states this

continues to plague the Amber Alert Plan on many levels, including state and national levels.

DPS states jurisdictions currently using similar systems have noted that cellular companies will

elect to make the Amber Alert text messages an option for their customers. Subscription num-

bers for this service have come in at below expected levels.

AGO states the proposed legislation relies on the good will cooperation of the cellular companies

for compliance.

ALTERNATIVES

DPS states consideration should be given to adding a new section of the Cellular Telephone Ser-

vices Act to include names and telephone numbers of representatives or email addresses that will

be available at all times for notification of an Amber Alert.

RLP/lg:yr