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HB1192
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
H.B. NO.
1192
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII
A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating
to missing persons
.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
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SECTION
1.
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The legislature finds that alert
programs like the AMBER alert and silver alert have been highly successful
tools for helping to locate missing persons.
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According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,
since the implementation of the AMBER alert in 1996, 1,221 missing children
have been recovered due to its use.
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The
same center reports that since 2022, more than six thousand silver alerts have
been activated nationally, and more than eighty per cent of those missing
elders were safely located.
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The
legislature recognizes that in missing persons cases, it can be critical to
locate the person quickly.
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Law
enforcement agencies have emphasized that the first seventy-two hours of a
missing person investigation offer the best hope of finding helpful witnesses
and of locating the person alive.
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By
quickly disseminating information in cases involving child abduction or a
missing elder, the AMBER and silver alerts allow the community to assist in the
search.
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Based on
the success of the AMBER alert and silver alert programs, the legislature
believes that a wider age range of missing persons would benefit from a similar
alert.
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A more expansive alert system
would also benefit Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women and children
between the ages of fifteen and seventeen, who are disproportionately
represented in the State's missing person cases.
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Accordingly,
the purpose of this Act is to establish an alert program in remembrance of
Charli Scott, a twenty‑seven year old woman who went missing and was
murdered by her former partner on the island of Maui.
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The intent of the Charli alert is to
supplement the AMBER alert and silver alert and to help locate a broader age range
of vulnerable persons who go missing in the State.
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SECTION 2.
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Chapter 353C, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as
follows:
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�353C-
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Charli alert program.
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(a)
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The department shall develop
and implement a Charli alert program to rapidly disseminate information about a
person subject to the alert.
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(b)
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If
a person is reported missing to a law enforcement agency and that agency
determines that the conditions of subsection (g) are met, the agency may
request the department to activate a Charli alert.
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If the department concurs that the conditions
of subsection (g) are met, the department shall activate a Charli alert within
the geographical area requested by the investigating law enforcement agency.
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(c)
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Radio, television, cable, and satellite systems are encouraged to, but
not required to, cooperate with disseminating the information contained in a
Charli alert.
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(d)
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Upon the activation of a Charli alert, the department shall assist the
investigating law enforcement agency by issuing a be-on-the-lookout alert,
issuing an electronic flyer, or activating a changeable message sign, as
permissible.
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(e)
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The department, as permitted, may use the Wireless Emergency Alerts
System.
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(f)
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The department, as permitted, may use a changeable message sign if the
following conditions are met:
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(1)
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The
investigating law enforcement agency determines that a vehicle may be involved
in the missing person incident; and
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(2)
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Specific
vehicle identification is available for public dissemination.
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(g)
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A law enforcement agency may request from the
department that a Charli alert be activated if the agency determines that all
of the following conditions are met regarding the investigation of the missing
person:
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(1)
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The missing
person is between the ages of eighteen and sixty-four;
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(2)
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The law
enforcement agency has utilized all available local resources;
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(3)
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The law enforcement
agency determines that the person has gone missing under unexplained or
suspicious circumstances;
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(4)
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The law
enforcement agency believes that the missing person is in the company of a
potentially dangerous person, or there are other factors indicating that the
missing person may be in peril, including factors indicating that the missing
person has been the victim of domestic violence; and
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(5)
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There is
information that, if disseminated to the public, could assist in the safe
recovery of the missing person.
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(h)
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For purposes of this section, "Charli
alert" means a notification activated pursuant to this section, designed
to issue and coordinate alerts with respect to a situation that meets the
conditions of subsection (g).
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SECTION
3.
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There is appropriated out of the
general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or
so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2025-2026 and the same sum
or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2026-2027 for the
establishment and use of the Charli alert program.
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The sums
appropriated shall be expended by the
department of law enforcement for the purposes of this Act.
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SECTION
4.
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New statutory material is
underscored.
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SECTION 5.
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This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2025.
INTRODUCED BY:
_____________________________
Report Title:
Missing
Persons; Missing and Murdered Women; Charli Alert; Appropriation
Description:
Establishes
and appropriates moneys for a Charli Alert program to help locate persons who
are 18 to 64 years old, missing, and thought to be in danger.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.