AB 2348: California Emergency Services Act: notification systems: Feather Alert.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes use of the Emergency Alert System to inform the public of local, state, and national emergencies. Existing law authorizes a law enforcement agency to request the Department of the California Highway Patrol to activate a Feather Alert, as defined, if the law enforcement agency determines that specified criteria are satisfied with respect to an endangered indigenous person who has been reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances. Existing law requires the department, if it concurs that those specified requirements are met, to activate a Feather Alert within the appropriate geographical area requested by the investigating law enforcement agency and to assist the agency by disseminating specified alert messages and signs. Existing law requires the department to create and submit a report to the Governors office and the Legislature that includes an evaluation of the Feather Alert, as specified.

This bill would require the department, in consultation with specified groups including tribal nations, to develop policies and procedures providing instruction specifying how a law enforcement agency and certain entities involved in emergency warnings are required to proceed after a missing person has been reported to a law enforcement agency, as defined, and prescribed conditions are met. The bill would require those policies and procedures to include, among other things, procedures for the transfer of information regarding the missing person and the circumstances surrounding the missing persons disappearance, as specified.

This bill would require the department to respond to a law enforcement agencys or tribes request to activate a Feather Alert within 48 hours of receiving the request. The bill would require the department to take reasonable steps to confirm that a report from a missing persons family members is not an attempt to locate an indigenous person who is intentionally avoiding or evading abuse, as specified. If the department declines to activate a Feather Alert, the bill would require it to provide written notice to the requesting law enforcement agency or tribe, as specified.

This bill would revise the conditions under which a law enforcement agency or tribe may request the department to activate a Feather Alert. In this regard, the bill would authorize the agency or tribe to make that request if the law enforcement agency determines a Feather Alert would be an effective tool in the investigation of missing and murdered indigenous persons. To make that determination, the bill would require a law enforcement agency to consider prescribed factors, including, among other things, that the agency or tribe believes that the person is in danger and is missing under specified circumstances. The bill would require a law enforcement agency to make that determination within 24 hours following the initial report being made to the agency and would authorize a tribe to directly request the department to activate a Feather Alert if the law enforcement agency does not make a determination within 24 hours. By creating a new duty for local law enforcement agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

This bill would revise the reporting requirement described above to require the department to work with law enforcement agencies and tribal nations to create the report and to submit the report no later than January 1, 2027. The bill would require the report to include information on the efficacy and advantages of the Feather Alert, including, but not limited to, statistical data on the number of cases closed and the number of cases that remain open, and the impact of the Feather Alert on other alert programs.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.