SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is well on its way to having a new alert system for people with special needs. Provided it gets final approval, Utahns will come to know the notification as a Purple Alert.
This idea was brought forward in a bill sponsored by Utah State Senator and Senate Minority Assistant Whip Jen Plumb, D—Salt Lake City.
The legislation tasks the Utah Department of Public Safety to set up and implement a system that alerts Utahns when someone with a physical or mental condition that could make them vulnerable goes missing and is considered to be in danger.
This can include people with autism, those who are nonverbal or people with other special needs.
“I think that this is really an important group of folks to give an extra little bit of assistance to when it’s needed, and I’m excited to be apart of it,” Plumb told KSL. “We can all be apart of something that reminds these folks that they are valued… important in our communities and that we want the best for them.”
The legislation received unanimous support from state lawmakers in both the House and Senate during the 2026 General Legislative Session.
“When it passed, there were a lot of shared tears,” Plumb said.
The bill, which now sits on the governor’s desk, defines the criteria for a purple alert as a missing and endangered person with “a physical or mental impairment…that substantially affects the individual’s ability to provide:
- Personal protection,
- Necessities such as food, shelter, clothing, or medical or other healthcare,
- Obtain services necessary for health, safety, or welfare,
- Carry out the activities of daily living; or manage the individual’s own resources.”
“We would want there to be extra thought put into how we would approach them, how we would offer to help them,” Plumb said.
Plumb previously told KSL NewsRadio one case that played a big role in her bringing this bill forward was the case of a 29-year-old Utah man with autism who went missing twice in a matter of weeks in late 2025.
What happens next?
The bill still needs the governor’s signature. Once that happens, the Department of Public Safety will spend the next several months creating the Purple Alert system and making sure it’s implemented properly and effectively.
“We want it to be done right,” Plumb said. “You don’t want to just throw it out there.”
Plumb said it will take DPS some time to create the new system, but under the enrolled version of the bill, it has to be up and running no later than Jan. 1, 2027.
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