SS/SCS/SB 1652 - This act establishes the Office of Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls and the Phoenix Alert system.
The Phoenix Alert System is designed to help identify and locate abducted or missing African American women and girls who are reasonably believed to be a victim of a criminal offense. This act tasks the Department of Public Safety with developing regions for the system and requires the Office of Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls to coordinate with local law enforcement to notify local media in the region. Any local law enforcement agency that opts out of establishing a system shall still be responsible for notifying the Office of reports within that agency's jurisdiction.
This act requires the system to include at least the Department of Public Safety, the Office of Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Health and Senior Services, and the Missouri Lottery.
Under this act, any person who knowingly makes a false report that triggers an Phoenix Alert shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
These provisions are similar to SB 612 (2025) and SB 1412 (2024).
This act creates the Office of Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls within the Department of Public Safety. The Director of the Department shall appoint a director for the Office that is closely connected to the African American community and is knowledgeable about criminal investigations.
The director has the authority to select, appoint, and compensate assistants and employees as needed for the operation of the Office. Under these provisions, the Office shall have access to corrections data and medical data maintained by a state agency that is classified as private or confidential data on individuals to the extent the data is necessary for the Office to perform its duties.
Under this act, the Office shall advocate for legislation and state agency actions that will aid the accomplishment of the mandates identified in the report of the Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Task Force.
The Office shall also develop:
• Recommendations for legislative and state agency action to address injustice in the response to cases of missing and murdered African American women and girls;
• Recommendations for legislative, agency, and community actions to address the intersection between cases involving missing and murdered African American women and girls and labor trafficking and sex trafficking;
• Recommendations for legislative, agency, and community actions to address the intersection between cases involving missing and murdered African American women and girls and domestic violence; and
• Tools and processes to evaluate the implementation and impact of the efforts of the Office.
This act provides that the Office will collect data on:
• Missing person and homicide cases that involve African American women and girls;
• The total number of Amber alerts issued, the total number that involve African American girls, and the outcome of cases involving Amber alerts disaggregated by demographic groups; and
• Reports of missing African American girls including the number classified as voluntary runaways.
The Office shall also be responsible for analyzing and assessing the data that is collected.
Under this act, the Office is authorized to coordinate with stakeholder groups represented on the Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Task Force and with state agencies that play a role in cases involving violence against African American women and girls.
Prior to January fifteenth of each year, the Office must report on its measurable outcomes achieved, specific objectives for the following year, and data and statistics on missing and murdered African American women and girls in Missouri, to the extent that the data is publicly available.
This act creates the Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Fund. This fund is used to provide grants to community-based organizations that provide services that prevent or end the targeting of African American women and girls. On or before February first of each year, the Office shall submit a report detailing the work of the grant recipients.
TRISTAN BENSON, JR.
Statutes affected: Introduced (7082S.01):
595.326Committee (7082S.03):
210.1017,
595.326Perfected (7082S.04):
210.1017,
595.326