California governor Gavin Newsom (D.) signed a bill Sunday to create an "Ebony Alert" to prioritize the search for missing black children in the state.
"This bill would authorize a law enforcement agency to request the Department of the California Highway Patrol to activate an 'Ebony Alert,'" reads the text of Senate Bill 673, "with respect to Black youth, including young women and girls, who are reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances, at risk, developmentally disabled, or cognitively impaired, or who have been abducted."
The law, which is set to go into effect on Jan. 1, will allow California law enforcement agencies to consider using the Ebony Alert, which is similar to an Amber Alert, for missing black youth aged between 12 and 25.
Newsom has recently signed multiple progressive bills from his legislature. Last month, he signed a bill to give fast food workers in the state a $20 minimum wage, increasing the average wage of a fast-food worker in the state from $16.60 an hour.
The Democratic legislature in September passed a bill that would allow low-income Mexican residents who live within 45 miles of the country's border with the Golden State to pay in-state tuition at some community colleges in Southern California.