SB 92-MISSING PERSONS UNDER 21 YEARS OLD  4:03:25 PM CHAIR SHOWER announced the consideration of SENATE BILL NO. 92 "An Act relating to missing persons under 21 years of age." 4:04:02 PM KELLY HOWELL, Special Assistant, Office of the Commissioner, Department of Public Safety (DPS), Anchorage, Alaska, presented SB 92 on behalf of the administration. She explained that SB 92 shortens the timeframe in which law enforcement must file a missing person's report from 24 hours to two hours and it expands the age for missing children from age 18 to age 21. She noted that the intention is to capture the vulnerable college- age population. These changes comply with two federal laws that passed after children went missing. One was a college student who was never found and the other was for young Adam Walsh who was abducted and murdered. The latter case elicited the law that shortened the timeframe to two hours. 4:05:52 PM MS. HOWELL presented the sectional analysis for SB 92. Section 1: Includes conforming language related to the duty of law enforcement agencies to reflect changes made in Section 2. Section 2: Adds a new subsection to AS 18.65.620, requiring law enforcement agencies to transmit a missing person's report for a person under the age of 21 to the Alaska Public Safety Information Network and the National Crime Information Center as soon as practicable, but not later than two hours after completing the report. If the person is later found, the agency shall remove that information from those databases as soon as practicable, but not later than 24 hours after learning the person has been located. Section 3: Contains conforming language to AS 47.10.141, runaway and missing children, to the changes made in section 2. All reporting procedures for persons under the age of 21 are moved to AS 18.65, as amended in Section 2 of the bill. The bill has no specific effective date and would become effective 90 days after becoming law. 4:07:49 PM CHAIR SHOWER referenced the document in the bill packets that shows the data for missing persons under 21 years old broken down by circumstance, race, and gender. He asked if the bill is talking about the "unknown" circumstance for the missing child. MS. HOWELL said the statistics include all the missing persons under age 21, regardless of the circumstance for which they were missing. The unknown circumstance reflects the cases that law enforcement does not know why the child went missing. SENATOR KAWASAKI referenced slide 5 and asked if she believes that most law enforcement agencies are able to comply with the more restrictive federal requirements. MS. HOWELL answered yes; the more restrictive requirements are part of the current training for the Public Safety Information Network. SENATOR KAWASAKI asked whether there is a penalty for non- compliance. MS. HOWELL deferred to Lisa Purinton who could talk about the audits for the Public Safety Information Network and the consequences of not entering the reports timely. 4:10:50 PM LISA PURINTON, Chief, Criminal Records and Identification Bureau, Department of Public Safety, Anchorage, Alaska, explained that the FBI will review the records during its tri- annual audit to ensure compliance with the two-hour federal requirement. The penalty for non-compliance falls on the public and the persons who are missing because it delays law enforcement's ability to act. SENATOR KAWASAKI asked if the state is exposed to any liability if an agency does not enter the information into the state and federal systems. MS. PURINTON said she was not able to answer legal questions. CHAIR SHOWER asked Ms. Howell to contact the Department of Law (DOL) and get the answer before the next hearing. 4:12:40 PM JAMES COCKRELL, Commissioner, Department of Public Safety, Anchorage, Alaska, pointed out that this is already federal law so the liability wouldn't change if it were also a requirement under state law. He stressed the importance of shortening the reporting timeframe to two hours, citing the hypothetical example of an 18-year-old who disappears from the Fairbanks campus when it is 40 degrees below zero. Waiting 24 hours for that report to go out dramatically increases likelihood of a bad outcome. If this change saves just one life, it is worthwhile, he said. SENATOR COSTELLO asked if other states have similar specifics in statute and if the state could lose federal funding if the state law doesn't match the federal law. MS. HOWELL deferred the question to Ms. Purinton. MS. PURINTON answered that she was unaware of any penalties attached to noncompliance with the two-hour reporting requirement. However, the national missing and murdered indigenous peoples movement could change in the future. SENATOR COSTELLO repeated her first question about the number of states that have similar specifics in statute. MS. PURINTON said she didn't know but she would follow up with the FBI to get the information. 4:15:17 PM SENATOR REINBOLD stated that she had been unsuccessful in her efforts to track what happened to the millions of dollars that were appropriated several years ago for missing and murdered indigenous women. She asked if SB 92 mirrors that project or if somebody could give an update on the disposition of those funds. MS. HOWELL confirmed that the state received several million dollars after former Attorney General William Barr visited the state and declared a public safety crisis in Alaska. The state has also received funding for the missing and murdered indigenous women initiatives. She offered to provide the information that DPS received from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office regarding the federal funding the state received related to the public safety emergency declaration. SENATOR REINBOLD expressed appreciation and clarified for the record that Kelly Howell was the last speaker. 4:16:58 PM SENATOR KAWASAKI commented that vulnerable populations include not only missing and murdered indigenous women and young people under age 21, but also senior citizens. He acknowledged that SB 92 was not the right vehicle, but he would follow-up with DPS to discuss vulnerabilities in the senior population. CHAIR SHOWER agreed with Senator Kawasaki's assessment. 4:17:46 PM CHAIR SHOWER held SB 92 in committee.