Close up image of a caretaker helping older woman walk

U.S. Sens. Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Mel Martinez (R-FL) introduced a Senate version of the National Silver Alert Act, which recently passed through the House.

Like the House version, which was sponsored by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), the Senate measure would include funds for the creation of a nationwide communications network to assist local efforts. It also would authorize grants and other funding for individual state Silver Alert projects and reauthorize Kristen’s Act, a law that funds public and private programs to locate or recover missing adults. Both senators say this measure would help safeguard seniors with dementia.

In other legislative news, President Bush Thursday signed into law a new expanded version of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The new version of the bill is designed to protect more individuals, like those who got left out of the Act’s protections as a result of Supreme Court rulings in 1999 and 2002 (McKnight’s, 9/19).