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Shari Bailey said she was brought to tears this week when a lawmaker texted her with the news that the House had passed a bill, inspired by her daughter, that aims to improve outcomes for people with autism or dementia who wander off.
It was one bit of good news in a string of positive developments for a package of bills Bailey is backing that deal with the problem of “elopement.”
The House voted unanimously Wednesday to pass House Bill 634, which requires police training for situations involving elopement — which is not standardized across the state. The House vote came one week after the Senate gave unanimous approval to its own version of the measure, Senate Bill 745, putting the bills well on their way to final passage.
“I’m overwhelmed, in a good way,” Bailey, a Harford County mom, said Wednesday evening after the House vote.
The two bills are the main pieces in a package of five bills that are advancing under the umbrella of the LEAD act — Laila’s Elopement Awareness and Dissemination Act. The bill is named for Bailey’s autistic daughter, Laila, who once ran off without a trace, a terrifying reality for many families taking care of people with disabilities. She was later found unharmed.
The package of bills would affect how schools, health insurance and state agencies respond to the issue of elopement. It also is the official name of House Bill 634 and Senate Bill 745, requiring police training for situations involving elopement — which is not standardized across the state.
The House would approve House Bill 1182 later Wednesday, a bill allowing parents of autistic children and children with other disabilities to share the use of tracking devices with their child’s school, so that school administrators can help find a child in the case of elopement.
Del. Aaron M. Kaufman (D-Montgomery) said he was “elated” to vote for the legislation “that will save lives and put the minds of parents at ease.” Without a Senate version of the bill, HB 1182 will need to be cleared by a Senate committee before it can be considered by the full Senate.
This is the first year for the package of elopement bills, and their rate of approval so far is unusual for new proposals in Annapolis, where lawmakers are typically more comfortable with legislation after they’ve seen it a couple times. Bailey said she was thrilled with the progress of the two main bills, and hopes the remaining legislation in the package will have the same success in the last month of the session.
“This is such a good step for Maryland … It’s going to touch so many lives,” she said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that about 1 in 31 8-year-olds has autism. Several autism-focused associations and resource organizations say that roughly 45%-50% of kids with autism are reported to wander or bolt from safe locations and out of the supervision of a safe adult.
But the safety risks involved with developmental disabilities also impact people with dementia, who may get confused or frightened and leave without warning. Other developmental disabilities can result in elopement behaviors as well.
The legislative package was partially inspired by Bailey’s terrifying experience of learning that then-6-year-old Laila had “eloped” one day in 2020, meaning she wandered off while under the supervision of a caregiver.
Fortunately, Laila was found that day. But the experience of worrying over whether her daughter would be found led Bailey to work with Maryland lawmakers so that other families can have more resources when they face elopement by a family member.
Not all of the LEAD Act package is moving. That’s particularly true of bills that come with substantial fiscal notes that sponsors need to justify, or find a way to trim the costs.
That’s the current concern for House Bill 1117, which would require Maryland Medicaid and other state programs to cover the cost of monitoring devices, by classifying them as “medical equipment” for those with a higher chance of elopement.
Elopement response devices would require coverage of both the device itself and a monthly service fee, according to state analysts, running an average of $848 per person annually. The state could have some help covering those devices through federal match dollars, but in a tight budget year, every dollar counts. The bill has yet to get a vote in committee.
Some advocates are worried that tough decisions will have to be made, even if lawmakers agree on the merits of the legislation.
“There are some hard choices to be made this session, absolutely,” said Melissa Rosenberg, executive director of the Autism Society Maryland. “It would be great if they (legislators) can do it. I would imagine a lot of the things that we’d like to have done are very expensive. The state is going to have to prioritize.”
Two other bills are moving, but whether they are moving quickly enough remains to be seen. One would expand currently required school mapping to cover a mile radius around the school grounds, including any bodies of water — as most fatalities among autistic kids who wander are due to drowning. It is awaiting a final vote in the House, perhaps this weekend. There is no corresponding Senate version of that bill.
Another would require the state health department to create a webpage of resources for family caregivers who take care of individuals — due to age, disability, chronic illness or other functional limitations — including information on safety planning for wandering and elopement. That bill was voted out of the House Health Committee on Friday and is headed to the full House. There is no Senate version of the bill, either.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking down to Monday’s “crossover” deadline, when bills need to move from their originating chamber to the other for best consideration. Advocates like Bailey believe that there is still time to work out some of the fiscal challenges that may be holding up other pieces of the LEAD Act bills.
But Bailey also notes that the education about elopement as an issue has also been valuable, as she’s testified for bills in the LEAD Act this year.
“I’ve gotten things like, ‘Wow, I did not know what elopement was until I saw your bills,’” she said. “Education has been a tremendous piece of insight through all of this.”
