California creates separate alert system for missing Black children
California Governor Gavin Newsom last week signed a bill authorizing an “Ebony Alert” system to notify the public when a Black youth is missing.
The Ebony Alert will be separate from the national Amber Alert system which is used by local law enforcement agencies across the nation to alert the public to missing children and mentally disabled adults.
SB 673, which will take effect January 1st, “would authorize a law enforcement agency to request the Department of the California Highway Patrol to activate an “Ebony Alert,” with respect to Black youth, including young women and girls, who are reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances, at risk, developmentally disabled, or cognitively impaired, or who have been abducted.”
While the Amber Alert is used for children up to 17 years old, the Ebony Alert would be used to notify the public about missing Black youths between 12 and 25 years old, in addition to cognitively impaired adults.
“We know America, and we know their biases when it comes to people of color and how we are always discounted or ignored,” California State Senator Steven Bradford, who authored the bill, told NPR after its passage. “So it's a shame that we need legislation like this.”
Newsom also signed a bill last week requiring venture capital firms to record and publish the races, disabilities, genders and sexuality of the founders of the companies they fund. According to the new law, effective March 1, 2025, VC firms must submit annual reports to the state’s Civil Rights Department disclosing the personal details of each founding team member of each venture.
These reports must also include how much the VC firm invested throughout the year and how much was invested in companies with “diverse founding team members.” Bill SB 54 defines “diverse” as anyone “who self-identifies as a woman, nonbinary, Black, African American, Hispanic, Latino-Latina, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Native Hawaiian, Alaskan Native, disabled, veteran or disabled veteran, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer.”
The reports must be released to the public, excluding the names of the team members. Firms that fail to submit the reports will face heavy penalties.
“This bill resonates deeply with my commitment to advance equity and provide for greater economic empowerment of historically underrepresented communities,” said Governor Newsom.
At the same time, SB 54 acknowledges that “[e]xisting law generally prohibits discrimination in the provision of privileges and services on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, and immigration status.”
