An Act relative to missing Black women and girls in Massachusetts

HD 140 creates a new Office of Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls within Massachusetts' public safety department. It establishes an Ebony Alert system (similar to Amber Alerts but for Black women and girls reported missing under suspicious circumstances) and mandates the office to collect and analyze data on missing persons, homicide, trafficking, and domestic violence cases involving Black women and girls. The bill requires the office to track case resolution rates, compare outcomes across demographics, develop recommendations for policy changes, and issue grants to community organizations supporting victims and prevention efforts. This law directly affects Black women and girls in Massachusetts who go missing or are victims of violence, aiming to address systemic gaps in how their cases are handled.