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

SPONSOR Martinez

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/21/07

2/24/07 HB

SHORT TITLE Endangered Person Advisory

SB 912/aSPAC

ANALYST Wilson

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY07

FY08

FY09 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

$0.1

$0.1

$0.1 Recurring General

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Department of Public Safety (DPS)

Municipal League

Sentencing Commission (SC)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of SPAC Amendment

The Senate Public Affairs Committee amendment to Senate Bill 912 adds a person suffering

from Alzheimer’s disease to the definition of an “endangered person".

Synopsis of Original Bill

Senate Bill 912 adds “endangered person" to the Missing Persons Information Act. The bill

requires DPS to determine if a missing person is an endangered person and to immediately

announce the situation on an AM radio station, similar to the Amber alert.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

There will be a minimal administrative cost for statewide update, distribution and documentation

of statutory changes. Any additional fiscal impact on the judiciary would be proportional to the

potential involvement of court personnel in assisting law enforcement agencies in appropriate

investigations.

Senate Bill 912/aSPAC – Page

2

DPS will need additional resources to set up procedures and handle an unknown number of alerts

in order to comply with SB 912.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

SB 912 proposes to be an Amber alert type system for endangered persons.

The federal amber

alert system is applied to people under the age of 18. Several states have expanded Amber alert"

type systems to include adults who are in endangered or vulnerable situations, such as, Maryland

and Massachusetts.

According the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

there are 39,582 active missing adult cases in the United States as of December 31, 2005.

The Municipal League notes that the provisions of this bill

might result in the broadcasting of a

large number of emergency, endangered person alerts, depending upon the protocol established

by the DPS.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The bill requires DPS to develop and implement procedures for the purpose of disseminating, as

rapidly as possible, information about an endangered person.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

DPS claims that there is no direction in the bill to other law enforcement agencies to get timely,

concise information to DPS to ensure the advisory is put out quickly.

DW/nt