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Committee advances changes to Silver Alert law after family testimony about missing veteran
Summary
Senate Bill 20-98, which consolidates and clarifies North Dakota's Amber, Blue and Silver alert statutes and widens Silver Alert eligibility criteria, drew extensive testimony from law enforcement, search‑and‑rescue volunteers and a family whose missing father prompted the change.
Senate Bill 20-98, sponsored on the House side by Senator Diane Larson, would consolidate the state's alert statutes and clarify who qualifies for Silver Alerts, the law‑enforcement notices used for missing vulnerable adults. Sgt. Jenna Clausen of the Highway Patrol, who operates as the state’s alerts coordinator, described how the Silver Alert currently requires a person to be reported missing and be a vulnerable adult (often age 65 or older, or a developmentally disabled minor under existing code) and that an alert must include descriptive information to be usable by the public.
“Silver alerts is what we're here to talk about today,” Sgt. Jenna told the committee. “...This right now involves missing people who are considered vulnerable adults, defined under century code, who are also at least 65 years old and have been reported to law enforcement as missing.” She said the state sends about 10–11 Silver Alerts a year on average and that the system must balance protecting personal freedom with issuing alerts when risk to life appears high.
Several witnesses supported the bill. Steve Harstad, chief agent with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, described the team approach among local law enforcement, DES, state radio, BCI and the Highway Patrol and urged careful use of the powerful alert mechanism. Travis Bateman of Badlands Search and Rescue and volunteers testified about repeated fatal cases involving missing people with dementia; Bateman urged faster activations and better cross‑jurisdiction coordination.
The bill's strongest testimony came from Lisa Likin Monroe, whose father Lloyd went missing in November 2023 and whose body was found months later. She told lawmakers that law enforcement had twice helped her father find his way home before the disappearance but that because he had no formal dementia diagnosis he did not qualify for a Silver Alert under the code as written at the time. She described an extensive volunteer search (more than 15,000 miles logged by volunteers using mapping apps and outreach) and urged lawmakers to expand eligibility. “It was a devastating blow to our family to find out that dad did not qualify because he did not have a medical diagnosis of dementia,” Monroe testified.
Tina Bey of the Department of Health and Human Services offered a technical clarification: a subsection in draft language referenced “a minor who has a developmental disability” while the referenced Century Code section covers both children and adults; Bey recommended changing the language to avoid accidentally excluding adults with developmental disabilities. Committee members discussed wording and asked staff to coordinate technical language with legal counsel before final action. The hearing record shows support from highway patrol, BCI, volunteer search organizations, and family advocates; committee closed the hearing and did not take an on‑record vote during this session.
