House sponsor urges approval of 'Turquoise Alert' named for missing child Emily Pike

Representative Martinez said the House sponsor concurs with the Senate amendments and asked members to approve a renamed missing-persons alert that she and colleagues will call the "Turquoise Alert" and that the legislation will be referred to as "Emily's Law." She told the chamber the bill was amended to remove the term "indigenous" so the alert covers "all people," and that the Senate's earlier proposed age range had been narrowed so the alert now covers people "65 and under."

In floor remarks, Representative Martinez said the changes were intended to ensure that a recent missing-child case would have triggered an alert. "If this bill had been in place, Emily Pike would have been the, that alert, it would have gone out for Emily Pike. No alert went out when that little girl went missing. No alert. And that breaks my heart," she said. She added that the name change and the other edits were negotiated with tribal communities and other supporters.

Martinez described the bill's eligibility adjustments and the choice to remove an age minimum the Senate had proposed; she also described prior Senate interest in alternative names and said the House version will use "Turquoise Alert." She framed the measure as broader than existing Amber and Silver alerts and asked members for support. "I would encourage everybody to vote yes on this bill," Martinez said.

Discussion vs. decision: the transcript records the sponsor's concurrence with the Senate amendments and a floor advocacy statement; no roll-call vote on final passage is recorded in the provided transcript excerpt. The text above summarizes the sponsor's explanation and requests for a yes vote, and notes the specific wording changes the sponsor described.