SB 22-187

Senate Bill 22-187, which has been signed into law in Colorado, expands a grant program that helps counties and municipalities set up recovery programs for people who wander due to medical conditions like dementia. This bill removes previous funding limits and allows the Department of Public Safety to award grants to support these programs. It also requires the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to create a website with information on how to contact local governments offering these services, resources for caregivers, and details about the technology used in recovery efforts. The bill allocates $100,000 from the general fund to cover operational costs related to this initiative. This means that more people who need assistance due to wandering behaviors will have access to better support systems and resources.

Official Summary

The act expands the grant program administered by the Colorado bureau of investigation (CBI) that assists counties in implementing recovery programs for persons who wander (grant program). A recovery program for persons who wander (recovery program), currently known as a lifesaver program, is a program under which a participant has a device that may be used to assist in attempting to electronically locate the participant. The act expands the grant program to apply to recovery programs established or maintained by counties and municipalities (local governments) or local government designees. The act also removes a limit on the amount of any single grant and a nonbinding intent statement regarding the maximum amount of money that the general assembly should spend on the grant program. Further, the act allows the executive director of the department of public safety to award grants to assist in maintaining and implementing recovery programs. The act also requires the CBI to establish a website that lists those local governments and local government designees that have a recovery program, describes how to contact those local governments and local government designees, lists resources for caretakers of persons with medical conditions that cause wandering, provides procedures to follow when a participant of a recovery program is determined to be missing, describes how the technology used by the various local governments and local government designees for recovery programs works, and provides any other information the CBI may conclude is necessary to better explain and publicize recovery programs. $100,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the recovery program for persons who wander cash fund for use by the CBI for operating expenses related to the Colorado crime information center and related personal services. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Votes