Senator pushing bill to implement Ashanti Alert System in Kentucky
FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) — Thursday in Frankfort, Sen. David Yates (D-Louisville) proposed an amendment to legislation that would call for the implementation of Kentucky’s Ashanti Alert System.
“This is another really good step to protect our young people, and I appreciate the effort. I vote aye,” said Sen. Denise Harper Angel (D-Jefferson).
Harper Angel along with the other senators in the room all voted yes to moving up SB 45.
This bill would establish Kentucky’s Ashanti Alert System which is like an Amber Alert but for people ages 17 and older.
The alert system is named after 19-year-old Ashanti Billie who was abducted from Virginia on Sept. 18, 2017.
“Two weeks later, authorities discovered her body in Charlotte, North Carolina, 350 miles away. The amount of time and the distance traveled, it put the nation on alert of how often this is happening,” said Yates.
Following Ashanti’s death, the Ashanti Alert Act of 2018 became law in the United States. It’s now used in multiple states across the country to help find missing people over the age of 17.
“It simply would be implemented; it provides for the rapid dissemination to law enforcement agencies, to media, to the public,” said Yates.
SB 45 was approved and now must finish the legislative process before it is signed into law for the Commonwealth and the Ashanti System can be put into effect.
