Powell's Silver Alert Expansion Bill Signed into Law

State Representative Khyl Powell's (R-14) House Bill 2894 has been signed into law. He celebrated by saying, "The Seek and Find Alert System ensures law enforcement won't be slowed down by red tape or outdated procedures."

As we covered in early March, State Rep. Powell's HB 2894 improves Arizona law enforcement's ability to issue Silver Alerts more quickly. It mandates more comprehensive training for new employees and annual training for employees involved in cases of missing persons, thereby increasing the effective response rate. Alerts are now issued when people with specific cognitive or developmental disabilities or who are over the age of 65 go missing.

In addition to expanding the Silver Alert system into the Seek and Find Alert system, it bars delays based on bureaucracy or prior missing episodes.

"When a vulnerable person goes missing, there's no time to waste," said State Rep. Powell in his press release, adding, "The Seek and Find Alert System ensures law enforcement won't be slowed down by red tape or outdated procedures. Whether it's a child with autism or an adult with dementia, families deserve to know that every resource is being deployed—immediately—to bring their loved one home."

The bill's success comes after Governor Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) vetoed six Republican-led bills throughout April, including bills concerning parental rights, vaccine requirements, election reform, and single-sex spaces.

Later, she vetoed House Bill 2774, which would cut the red tape surrounding the construction of small modular nuclear reactors by advanced manufacturing facilities and data centers to power their facilities.

Finally, at the end of the month, Gov. Hobbs vetoed HB2271, which would require the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) to provide data such as active index wells, depth-to-water averages, and total groundwater volume in its annual supply and demand reports for rural groundwater basins. This is a response to the ADWR declaring these groundwater basins as "critical," meaning they are declining, but without providing proof.