Committee hears bipartisan support for bill to create statewide Silver Alert for missing seniors and vulnerable adults

Representative Johnson told the House Families and Veterans Committee that House Bill 4362 would direct the Michigan State Police to establish a statewide alert system to notify the public when a senior or vulnerable adult is reported missing and at risk, using modern wireless emergency alerts and existing Amber‑Alert infrastructure.

Supporters described the bill as a public‑safety and cost‑saving measure that would standardize responses under the Moselle Senior and Vulnerable Adult Medical Alert Act and connect families, local law enforcement and the public more quickly when time is critical.

Rep. Johnson said the bill would require the Michigan State Police to develop a plan using the federally funded Wireless Emergency Alert network — the same mechanism used for severe weather and AMBER alerts — and that an alert would be issued only after the required missing‑person report is completed and a formal request is made to state police. “This is a missed opportunity to get the word out quickly when every second counts,” he said.

Kristen Merkel, a licensed master social worker and contract administrator with the Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan, told the committee the bill addresses gaps left by the 2012 Moselle Act, which required local reporting but did not create a centralized, statewide alert system or prescribe use of mobile wireless alerts. Merkel offered data intended to show urgency: she said nearly 200,000 people in Michigan live with Alzheimer’s disease, that about six in 10 people with dementia will wander at some point, and that a person with dementia “who’s not found within 24 hours…faces a 50 percent chance of serious injury or death.”

Merkel described local limits on technology: many personal emergency response devices alert third‑party call centers rather than law enforcement directly, and there is no standard protocol for escalation. She argued the bill would reduce lengthy, expensive multi‑jurisdiction searches — “search and rescue operations are incredibly expensive,” she said — by triggering faster, more coordinated responses and leveraging an existing federal alert channel.

Deneen Smith, executive director of Friendship Centers of Emmet County, recounted a 2023 search for David Moffitt, a 70‑year‑old man with dementia who went missing in Emmet County and has not been located. Smith said hundreds of volunteers and first responders searched swamps and forests and that bystanders who saw him did not know he was missing; she said a Silver Alert could have mobilized those witnesses and might have changed the outcome.

Witnesses pointed to adoption of similar systems elsewhere: Smith said 37 states and the District of Columbia have standardized Silver Alert systems; she cited Utah’s 2019 implementation cost of $4,900, Texas data showing 77 percent of Silver Alert cases resolved within 24 hours and North Carolina recovery rates near 90 percent.

Committee members asked implementation and privacy questions. Chair Schmaltz asked how many states have alerts; Merkel and Smith confirmed many do and provided the 37‑state figure. Rep. Thompson asked whether Handle With Care or school notifications require parent permission; that question was discussed in an earlier testimony and committee members asked about privacy around police notifications to schools.

No vote was taken on the bill during the session. Support cards read into the record included comments from: Mary Pollock (Michigan State Employee Retirees Association), Danielle Sirianni (Michigan County Social Services Association), Sharon Pulis (Senior advocacy) and Sandra Carlin (senior citizens advocate), all in favor, per the committee record.

Rep. Johnson and the witnesses asked the committee to support House Bill 4362 to modernize the statewide response to missing seniors and vulnerable adults and to reduce search costs and prevent avoidable tragedy.