A second Arizona House committee has endorsed a Senate-approved bill that would create a new alert system for missing elderly people.
Senate Bill 1097 would create a “silver alert” system, to be modeled after the Amber Alert system, which is used to notify the community about a missing child. The Silver Alert would require the state Department of Public Safety to coordinate emergency alerts for residents older than 65 who have gone missing and who are thought to be in danger. It would disseminate information to the public about the missing person, including descriptions and the last place they were seen.
The bill’s sponsor Sen. Gail Griffin, said it was brought forward by the Cochise County Sheriff, after an elderly woman went missing and was found dead weeks later. There are currently 15 states with this kind of system in place.
Tuesday’s unanimous vote in the House Government Committee sends the bill to the full House for debate.
