The Pennsylvania House chamber inside state Capitol building in Harrisburg on March 24, 2023. Jeremy Long - WITF News
Jeremy Long / WITF
The Pennsylvania House chamber inside state Capitol building in Harrisburg on March 24, 2023. Jeremy Long - WITF News
Jeremy Long / WITF
Families of first-grade students in Pennsylvania would be supplied with identification kits that could help assist police investigations if the children ever go missing, under a bill passed by the state Senate on Tuesday.
The bill passed 34-15 and now goes on to the state House for consideration.
Under the measure, schools would be required to distribute free kits — which include materials for fingerprinting, DNA collection and more — to first-grade students by Nov. 15 each school year.
The information would not be included in any state or national database, sponsors said.
The program would start next school year. Funding for the program is dependent on what the Legislature earmarks for it. With about 118,000 first-graders in the state, sponsors estimate it could cost a total of $350,000 annually for the kits.
Parents would be able to complete the kits and store them privately. They could turn them over to help law enforcement if their child were to go missing.
Sometimes, your mornings are just too busy to catch the news beyond a headline or two. Don’t worry. The Morning Agenda has got your back. Each weekday morning, host Tim Lambert will keep you informed, amused, enlightened and up-to-date on what’s happening in central Pennsylvania and the rest of this great commonwealth.
The days of journalism’s one-way street of simply producing stories for the public have long been over. Now, it’s time to find better ways to interact with you and ensure we meet your high standards of what a credible media organization should be.