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Committee approves bill to codify ‘purple alert’ for people with developmental disabilities
Summary
The House Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative & Military Affairs Committee voted to advance a bill that would add a state-level “purple alert” to the missing-persons alert system to help locate people aged 18–65 with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Representative Dean Vaught on behalf of the bill introduced House Bill 1523, asking the committee to add a “purple alert” to the state’s missing-persons notification system and to move language currently governed by an executive order into law. “So today, bringing a bill to try to add the purple alert to what we thought was in legislation of the silver and amber alert,” Vaught said.
The measure would create a purple alert for adults aged 18 to 65 with intellectual and developmental disabilities and add the alerts into statute rather than leaving them under an old executive order, sponsors said. Toni Lindsey, the mother of a 6-year-old with Down syndrome who testified in support, told the committee the alert is modeled on similar programs in other states and would speed reunification. “The purple alert is for Down Syndrome babies, who tend to be runners,” Lindsey said. “This bill will help our law enforcement and our public be alerted quicker, know that the children, and adults they're looking for have these developmental delays and disabilities, and therefore help reunite them and bring them home safer and quicker.”
Committee members asked how the program compares to other states; sponsors said the proposal draws on West Virginia and Florida. Representatives confirmed the alert can be added to the existing system at no additional cost. A committee question noted that amber and silver alerts were not found in statute and instead originated in an executive order; the bill aims to place all three alerts in code.
There was no recorded roll-call tally in the committee for the motion to advance the measure. Representative Carr moved “do pass” on the bill; the committee approved it by voice vote. The chair announced the bill had passed the committee and would proceed for further consideration.
The bill discussion lasted several minutes and included testimony from a family member and brief questions from committee members. No amendments were offered in committee and no formal vote counts were recorded in the transcript.
