A new state law in Utah—designed to improve the criteria for issuing AMBER Alerts—went into effect May 3. Representative Ryan Wilcox of Ogden sponsored HB266 which prohibits law enforcement from issuing AMBER Alerts for runaways or child custody disputes unless the child faces a credible threat of imminent danger. Wilcox told KSL.com that the overuse of AMBER Alerts has caused people to opt out of receiving the alerts or ignore them, which diminishes their effectiveness. Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed the bill into law in March.
