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Committee lays over bill to expand missing‑person alerts to include autistic and other vulnerable people
Summary
The Senate Judiciary Committee laid over a bill to expand Minnesota’s alert system so it can be used to locate vulnerable people who elope, including children with autism and adults with cognitive impairment, after emotional testimony about recent drowning deaths.
Senate File 3007, a measure to expand Minnesota’s public alert system to notify the public when a vulnerable person goes missing, drew emotional testimony and was laid over for possible inclusion in larger bills after the committee removed sections that would have required rulemaking and an advisory board.
The bill would add people with certain cognitive or neurological impairments — including dementia, traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease and autism — to the categories eligible for the state’s missing‑person alert protocols. “Autistic children are a hundred and sixty times more likely to die by drowning than their nondisabled peers,” said Maren Christensen Hofer, executive director of the Multicultural Autism Action Network, recounting recent tragedies and urging lawmakers to adopt public alert authority that could mobilize residents quickly.
Representatives from CARE (Council on American‑Islamic Relations) described repeated drowning deaths in the Somali community and said local coalitions are building to address elopement. Committee members asked about criteria for issuing an alert and about the risk that overuse would desensitize the public. Senator Hoffman said the bill’s advisory language was intended to give guidance on thresholds for public alerts, and he agreed to remove sections that would trigger separate rulemaking and referral to the State and Local Government committee; the committee adopted a motion to delete sections 2 and 3 and laid the remainder of the bill over for possible inclusion.
Senator Hoffman and testifiers emphasized that the legislation seeks to give families and first responders another tool; witnesses said they could not be sure an alert would have prevented the drownings, but argued the system could save lives by informing the public earlier. The committee removed language imposing rulemaking and an advisory board in the short term so the core alert expansion could be considered for inclusion in other omnibus vehicles.
Action: The committee voted to delete sections 2 and 3 (rulemaking/advisory board language) and laid Senate File 3007 over for possible inclusion in other legislation.
