Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas House Bill 1075 by State Representative Rodney Anderson expanding the AMBER Alert was passed on third reading on the House floor on April 14 2011. The bill will amend the current AMBER Alert System to include adults who have been diagnosed with an intellectual disability. Currently an AMBER alert can only be used for an abducted child.
Last November Tiffany Demus of Mansfield a mentally disabled 31-year-old went missing. Because she was over 17 years of age and the authorities did not believe she had been abducted no alert was sent out. Demus was found five days later face-down in a creek less than four miles from her home. Not until after her recovery and the news coverage that followed did multiple people come forward and acknowledge having seen her wandering the streets not knowing she was a missing person.
The AMBER (Americas Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alert system was created in 1996 after the abduction of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman in Arlington Texas. According to the official government website (www.amberalert.gov) the goal of the alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and the safe recovery of the missing child. There are now 120 AMBER Alert plans nationwide that have resulted in over 530 successful recoveries. Representative Anderson passed the bill in hopes of making stories like Demus end with a successful recovery.
I am very pleased to have the opportunity to pass legislation that protects this truly vulnerable group of people. This bill would not have been passed without the assistance and support of my joint author Representative Vicki Truitt as well as the numerous agencies and non-profits throughout the state dedicated to serving those with intellectual disabilities.
Rodney Anderson is a State Representative from Dallas County representing Grand Prairie and South Irving. HB 1075 is his first bill to be passed on the House Floor.
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas House Bill 1075 by State Representative Rodney Anderson expanding the AMBER Alert was passed on third reading on the House floor on April 14 2011. The bill will amend the current AMBER Alert System to include adults who have been diagnosed with an intellectual disability. Currently an AMBER alert can only be used for an abducted child.
Last November Tiffany Demus of Mansfield a mentally disabled 31-year-old went missing. Because she was over 17 years of age and the authorities did not believe she had been abducted no alert was sent out. Demus was found five days later face-down in a creek less than four miles from her home. Not until after her recovery and the news coverage that followed did multiple people come forward and acknowledge having seen her wandering the streets not knowing she was a missing person.
The AMBER (Americas Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alert system was created in 1996 after the abduction of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman in Arlington Texas. According to the official government website (www.amberalert.gov) the goal of the alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and the safe recovery of the missing child. There are now 120 AMBER Alert plans nationwide that have resulted in over 530 successful recoveries. Representative Anderson passed the bill in hopes of making stories like Demus end with a successful recovery.
I am very pleased to have the opportunity to pass legislation that protects this truly vulnerable group of people. This bill would not have been passed without the assistance and support of my joint author Representative Vicki Truitt as well as the numerous agencies and non-profits throughout the state dedicated to serving those with intellectual disabilities.
Rodney Anderson is a State Representative from Dallas County representing Grand Prairie and South Irving. HB 1075 is his first bill to be passed on the House Floor.
