I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5898 
To authorize a grant program to help establish and improve State-adminis-
tered notification systems to help locate missing individuals with Alz-
heimer’s disease and other dementia-related illnesses, and for other pur-
poses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 24, 2008 
Mr. BILIRAKIS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To authorize a grant program to help establish and improve 
State-administered notification systems to help locate 
missing individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and other 
dementia-related illnesses, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Silver Alert Grant Pro-
gram Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are to— 
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(1) create a grant program to encourage the es-
tablishment and improvement of State-administered 
notification systems to help find missing seniors and 
other individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and other 
dementia-related illnesses before the missing seniors 
and other individuals harm themselves or others; 
(2) promote best practices, based on the experi-
ences of existing Silver Alert systems, to guide the 
establishment of new Silver Alert systems and the 
improvement of existing Silver Alert systems; and 
(3) increase awareness about the need for co-
ordinated efforts between families, caregivers, local 
communities, and law enforcement authorities to 
help locate missing individuals as quickly as possible 
to increase the chances of safely reuniting the indi-
viduals with their families. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) According to the National Institute on 
Aging at the National Institutes of Health, as many 
as 5,000,000 people in the United States may suffer 
from Alzheimer’s disease. 
(2) The National Institute on Aging reports 
that, although Alzheimer’s disease usually impacts 
people age 60 and older, younger people can also be 
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affected, and the risk of developing Alzheimer’s dis-
ease increases with age. 
(3) An analysis of data on Alzheimer’s disease 
in the United States shows that 1 in 8 people over 
the age of 65 have Alzheimer’s disease, and that 
every 71 seconds another individual in the United 
States develops the disease. 
(4) The aging of the members of the baby 
boomer generation will increase the number of peo-
ple suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other de-
mentia-related illnesses in the coming years. 
(5) The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that 
more than 60 percent of people suffering from Alz-
heimer’s disease will wander away from their homes 
or care-giving facilities during their lifetimes. 
(6) Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-re-
lated illnesses leave their victims confused, dis-
oriented, and often unable return to their to homes, 
families, or care-giving facilities. 
(7) States such as Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, 
North Carolina, and Texas have established State- 
administered notification systems, modeled after the 
highly successful Amber Alert system, to help dis-
seminate relevant information about missing seniors 
and those with other dementia-related illnesses to 
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law enforcement and other appropriate authorities in 
an expeditious manner. The experiences of these 
States have shown that the timely notification and 
dissemination of appropriate information about 
missing individuals greatly increases the chances of 
that the individuals will be located. 
(8) Other States have explored the development 
of such systems but have faced difficulty creating 
and implementing such systems due to budget con-
straints. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) Silver Alert systems— 
(A) should include definitive criteria for 
issuing Silver Alerts to ensure that the impact 
of such Alerts is not lessened by overly frequent 
notifications; 
(B) should not permit a determination of 
whether to issue a Silver Alert to be based sole-
ly on the age of the missing individual; 
(C) should only be used to issue Silver 
Alerts with respect to individuals who are in-
capable of making personal care decisions or 
managing their own personal affairs; 
(D) should only be initiated by a person— 
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(i) who has had recent contact with 
the missing individual with respect to 
whom a Silver Alert may be issued; and 
(ii) who is a legal guardian, a close 
family member, a resident of the same 
household, or a caregiver of the missing in-
dividual; 
(E) should protect the privacy, dignity, 
independence, and autonomy of the individuals 
with respect to whom Silver Alerts are issued; 
(F) should encourage the training of law 
enforcement officers and other first responders 
about the most appropriate methods of locating 
missing individuals with Alzheimer’s disease 
and other dementia-related illnesses, deter-
mining whether an individual suffers from a de-
mentia-related illness, and the most effective 
way to communicate with such an individual; 
and 
(G) should encourage coordination between 
appropriate State officials administering such 
systems and local entities administering pro-
grams under the Missing Alzheimer’s Disease 
Patient Alert Program; and 
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(2) the Federal Government can play an impor-
tant role in preventing injuries and loss of life 
among those with Alzheimer’s disease and other de-
mentia-related illnesses by helping States defray the 
costs of establishing, implementing, and improving 
Silver Alert systems. 
SEC. 4. SILVER ALERT SYSTEM GRANT PROGRAM. 
(a) GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Attorney 
General is authorized to award grants to States to— 
(1) establish and implement a Silver Alert sys-
tem; or 
(2) make improvements to an existing Silver 
Alert system. 
(b) GRANT PERIOD; MINIMUM AWARD.— 
(1) GRANT
PERIOD.—Each grant under this 
section shall be awarded for a one-year period, and 
may be renewed for additional one-year periods as 
the Attorney General determines to be appropriate. 
(2) MINIMUM AWARD.—Each grant awarded to 
a State under this section shall be for an amount 
that is not less than $100,000. 
(c) REGULATIONS.—Not later than one year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General 
shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to 
carry out this section, including— 
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(1) eligibility and application criteria for States 
desiring to receive a grant under this section; and 
(2) selection criteria to be used by the Attorney 
General to select the States that will receive a grant 
under this section. 
(d) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$5,600,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 
2013. 
SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT ON SILVER ALERT SYSTEMS. 
Not later than one year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Attorney General 
shall prepare and make available to the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Senate a report related to Silver Alert 
systems, which shall include— 
(1) a list of States that have established Silver 
Alert systems; 
(2) for each State that has established such a 
system— 
(A) the number of Silver Alerts issued; 
(B) the number of individuals located suc-
cessfully; 
(C) the average period of time between the 
issuance of a Silver Alert and the location of 
the individual for whom such Alert was issued; 
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(D) the State agency or authority issuing 
Silver Alerts, and the process by which Silver 
Alerts are disseminated; 
(E) the cost of establishing and operating 
such a system; 
(F) the criteria used by the State to deter-
mine whether to issue a Silver Alert; and 
(G) the extent to which missing individuals 
for whom Silver Alerts were issued crossed 
State lines; 
(3) actions States have taken to protect the pri-
vacy and dignity of the individuals for whom Silver 
Alerts are issued; 
(4) ways that States have facilitated and im-
proved communication about missing individuals be-
tween families, caregivers, law enforcement officials, 
and other authorities; and 
(5) any other information the Attorney General 
determines to be appropriate. 
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 
For the purposes of this Act: 
(1) SILVER ALERT SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘Silver 
Alert system’’ means a State-administered notifica-
tion system to help locate missing individuals with 
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Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related ill-
nesses. 
(2) STATE.—The term State means each of the 
several States of the United States, the District of 
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 
Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, American 
Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands. 
Æ 
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