An Act Regarding the Time Frame for Issuing a Silver Alert and to
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 0496
Sponsors: MILLIKEN, CURRY
Amends: 25 MRSA §2202

Legislative Document
No. 496
H.P. 325
House of Representatives, February 11, 2025
An Act Regarding the Time Frame for Issuing a Silver Alert and to 
Require Silver Alerts for All Persons Missing from Certain 
Inpatient Facilities
Received by the Clerk of the House on February 6, 2025.  Referred to the Committee on 
Criminal Justice and Public Safety pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to 
Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative MILLIKEN of Blue Hill.
Cosponsored by Senator CURRY of Waldo and
Representatives: DODGE of Belfast, SUPICA of Bangor.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  25 MRSA §2202, as amended by PL 2021, c. 62, §2, is further amended to 
read:
§2202.  Silver Alert Program
In accordance with this chapter and with the cooperation of the Department of 
Transportation, the Maine Turnpike Authority, a statewide organization representing 
broadcast groups in the State, the Office of the Governor and appropriate law enforcement 
agencies, the department shall develop and implement the Silver Alert Program to be 
activated on behalf of missing endangered persons.  The program must include standards 
of procedure for local law enforcement agencies to determine that a missing person is a 
missing endangered person, to determine information to be released regarding the missing 
endangered person or the circumstances of the person's disappearance and to appropriately 
activate a Silver Alert to local or statewide law enforcement agencies and to the media, a 
plan for providing relevant information to the public through an existing system of dynamic 
message signs located across the State when necessary and training for all law enforcement 
officers.  The Silver Alert Program must be developed and implemented using existing 
resources.
A person who is reported missing from a group home, mental hospital, psychiatric ward 
or other facility or division of a facility providing inpatient mental health services in the 
State is automatically considered a missing endangered person for the purposes of this 
chapter, and a Silver Alert must be issued for that person.
The Silver Alert Program must require that all Silver Alerts be issued immediately to 
all police departments statewide and to all hospitals, homeless shelters, soup kitchens and 
public libraries in the State within 24 hours.
Under the Silver Alert Program, when a person who is the subject of a Silver Alert is 
not located, the alert must be reissued after 2 weeks and every 2 weeks thereafter.
SUMMARY
This bill amends the provisions of law governing the Silver Alert Program to clarify 
that a person reported missing from a group home, mental hospital, psychiatric ward or 
other facility or division of a facility providing inpatient mental health services in the State 
is automatically considered a missing endangered person and a Silver Alert must be issued 
for that person. 
The bill requires that Silver Alerts be issued immediately to all police departments 
statewide and to all hospitals, homeless shelters, soup kitchens and public libraries in the 
State within 24 hours. When a person who is the subject of a Silver Alert is not located, the 
alert must be reissued after 2 weeks and every 2 weeks thereafter.