Read the full stored bill text
hb359_05_EN
(136th General Assembly)
(Amended
House Bill Number 359)
AN ACT
To amend section 5502.522 of the
Revised Code to clarify the statewide emergency alert system in cases
of missing autistic or developmentally disabled children and to name
the alert the Joshua Alert.
Be
it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio:
Section
1.
That
section 5502.522 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:
Sec.
5502.522.
(A)
There is hereby created the statewide emergency alert program to aid
in the identification and location of any individual who has a mental
impairment, has autism spectrum disorder or another developmental
disability, or is sixty-five years of age or older, who is or is
believed to be a temporary or permanent resident of this state, is at
a location that cannot be determined by an individual familiar with
the missing individual, and is incapable of returning to the missing
individual's residence without assistance, and whose disappearance,
as determined by a law enforcement agency, poses a credible threat of
immediate danger of serious bodily harm or death to the missing
individual. The program shall be a coordinated effort among the
governor's office, the department of public safety, the attorney
general, law enforcement agencies, the state's public and commercial
television and radio broadcasters, and others as determined necessary
by the governor. No name shall be given to the program created under
this division that conflicts with any alert code standards that are
required by federal law and that govern the naming of emergency alert
programs.
(B)
The statewide emergency alert program shall not be implemented unless
all of the following activation criteria are met:
(1)
The local investigating law enforcement agency confirms that the
individual is missing.
(2)
The individual meets at least one of the following criteria:
(a)
Is sixty-five years of age or older;
(b)
Has a mental impairment;
(c)
Has either autism spectrum disorder or another developmental
disability.
(3)
(3)(a)
The disappearance of the individual poses a credible threat of
immediate danger of serious bodily harm or death to the individual.
(b)
A credible threat of immediate danger includes situations in which
the missing individual is nonverbal, has limited communication
ability, or otherwise lacks the capacity to seek help or ensure the
missing individual's own safety.
(4)
There is sufficient descriptive information about the individual and
the circumstances surrounding the individual's disappearance to
indicate that activation of the alert will help locate the
individual.
(C)
Nothing in division (B) of this section prevents the activation of a
local or regional emergency alert program that may impose different
criteria for the activation of a local or regional plan.
(D)
Any radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, or cable
system participating in the statewide emergency alert program or in
any local or regional emergency alert program, and any director,
officer, employee, or agent of any station or system participating in
either type of alert program, shall not be liable to any person for
damages for any loss allegedly caused by or resulting from the
station's or system's broadcast or cablecast of, or failure to
broadcast or cablecast, any information pursuant to the statewide
emergency alert program or the local or regional emergency alert
program.
(E)
A
(E)(1)
Subject to division (E)(2) of this section, a
local
investigating law enforcement agency shall not be required to notify
the statewide emergency alert program that the law enforcement agency
has received information that meets the activation criteria set forth
in division (B) of this section during the first twenty-four hours
after the law enforcement agency receives the information.
(2)
If the missing individual under division (B) of this section is under
eighteen years of age and has either autism spectrum disorder or
another developmental disability, the local investigating law
enforcement agency shall notify the statewide emergency alert program
that the law enforcement agency has received information that meets
the activation criteria set forth in that division
as
soon as that information has been verified
.
(F)
Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize the use of
the federal emergency alert system unless otherwise authorized by
federal law.
(G)
As used in this section:
(1)
"Autism spectrum disorder" has the same meaning as in
section 1751.84 of the Revised Code.
(2)
"Cable system" has the same meaning as in section 2913.04
of the Revised Code.
(3)
"Developmental disability" has the same meaning as in
section 5123.01 of the Revised Code.
(4)
"Law enforcement agency" includes, but is not limited to, a
county sheriff's office, the office of a village marshal, a police
department of a municipal corporation, a police force of a regional
transit authority, a police force of a metropolitan housing
authority, the state highway patrol, a state university law
enforcement agency, the office of a township police constable, and
the police department of a township or joint police district.
(5)
"Mental impairment" means a substantial disorder of
thought, mood, perception, orientation, or memory that grossly
impairs judgment, behavior, or ability to live independently or
provide self-care as certified by a licensed physician, psychiatrist,
or psychologist.
Section
2.
That
existing section 5502.522 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.
Section
3.
An
alert issued under division (E)(2) of section 5502.522 of the Revised
Code shall be known as a Joshua Alert.
Speaker
___________________ of the House of Representatives.
President
___________________ of the Senate.
Passed
________________________, 20____
Approved
________________________, 20____
Governor.
The section numbering of law
of a general and permanent nature is complete and in conformity with
the Revised Code.
Director, Legislative
Service Commission.
Filed
in the office of the Secretary of State at Columbus, Ohio, on the
____ day of ___________, A. D. 20____.
Secretary of State.
File
No. _________ Effective Date ___________________