Overview
- Sen. Brandon Storm introduced Senate Bill 289 to update Kentucky’s Amber Alert statute for faster, clearer coordination in missing-child cases.
- The measure confirms the Kentucky State Police as the sole authority to activate alerts and clarifies the standards for issuing them.
- It would explicitly allow alerts for children in state custody, juvenile placements, or other vulnerable situations where public awareness could aid recovery.
- Storm describes the bill as a modernization that operates within the current budget without new funding.
- Kentucky’s current Amber Alert system uses highway message boards, emergency broadcasts, law-enforcement networks, and media partners to notify the public.