BILL NUMBER:A10125
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the penal law, in relation to dissem-
ination of false information about a missing child
PURPOSE: To establish a class E felony of dissemination of false miss-
ing child information.
SUMMARY PROVISIONS: Section one adds a new section 240.49 to the penal
law, dissemination of false missing child information.
JUSTIFICATION: Across the United States there have been numerous false
Amber Alerts being sent out via e-mail and text message. These false
alerts prompt concerned citizens to contact law enforcement agencies who
find out from authorities that such alerts are fake. These false alerts
can have negative affect on public awareness and diminish such awareness
when an official Amber Alert is issue by authorities. These false
alerts, which are spread by electronic means (i.e. e-mail, text message,
Facebook, and Twitter), only diminish the effectiveness of a authentic
and genuine Amber Alert. Legislation is needed in New York to prevent
someone from disseminating false alerts to the public. This bill would
make it a class E felony for someone who knowingly and falsely gener-
ates, by electronic or any other means, information that would make the
public believe that an official alert has bee issued on a child that has
been abducted or kidnapped. Currently, all official Amber Alerts are
initially broadcasted through the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and if
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
10125
I N A S S E M B L Y
March 5, 2010
___________
Introduced by M. of A. TITONE -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to dissemination of false
information about a missing child
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 240.49 to
read as follows:
S 240.49 DISSEMINATION OF FALSE MISSING CHILD INFORMATION.
A PERSON IS GUILTY OF DISSEMINATION OF FALSE MISSING CHILD INFORMATION
WHEN, KNOWING THE INFORMATION HE OR SHE REPORTED, CONVEYED, CIRCULATED
OR DISSEMINATED IS FALSE OR BASELESS, HE OR SHE STATES OR REPORTS, BY
ANY MEANS, THAT A CHILD IS A MISSING CHILD AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION ONE
OF SECTION EIGHT HUNDRED THIRTY-SEVEN-E OF THE EXECUTIVE LAW.
DISSEMINATION OF FALSE MISSING CHILD INFORMATION IS A CLASS E FELONY.
S 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14874-02-9
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