MISSING CHILDREN TASK FORCE - S.B. 1123 (S-2): FLOOR ANALYSIS

Senate Bill 1123 (Substitute S-2 as reported)

Sponsor: Senator Leon Stille

Committee: Families, Mental Health and Human Services

CONTENT

The bill would create the "Missing Children Task Force Act" to establish a missing children's task force within the Department of State Police. The Act would be repealed on December 31, 1999, and the task force would have to submit a final report to the Senate Committee on Families, Mental Health and Human Services and the House Committee on Human Services and Children before that date.

The task force would consist of the Directors of the Department of State Police, the Family Independence Agency, and the Department of Community Health; a judge of the family division of circuit court appointed by the Governor; the Michigan Children's Ombudsman; two members of the general public, appointed by the Governor, with one member having training in child psychology; one member of the Senate appointed by the Senate Majority Leader; one member of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House; and the executive directors of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police and the Michigan Sheriffs' Association.

Members of the task force would serve without compensation, although the public members could be reimbursed for their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties. The bill would appropriate in the Department of State Police's discretionary fund the money to pay those expenses.

The missing children task force would have to do all of the following:

-- Review the primary causes of missing children.

-- Revise the prevalence of voluntary disappearance, spousal abduction, and kidnapping of children, and explore and recommend a strategy to address that information.

-- Recommend legislation to ensure timely and accurate entry of missing children information into the Law Enforcement Information Network, and to improve procedures or programs to reduce the number of incidents of missing children.

- Legislative Analyst: S. Lowe

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill would have a minimal fiscal impact on the State. Under the bill, task force members could receive expenses incurred in the performance of their responsibilities and it is assumed that the State would bear the cost of preparing the task force report. The bill specifies that funds for these expenses would be appropriated by the Department of State Police.

Date Completed: 5-26-98 - Fiscal Analyst: B. Bakerfloor\sb1123 - Analysis available @ http://www.michiganlegislature.org

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.