Inslee signs runaway notification bill

OLYMPIA -- Gov. Jay Inslee has signed his first bill into law, a measure that requires homeless or runaway shelters to notify parents, state officials or law enforcement of a youth's location within 72 hours of becoming aware they are missing.

Inslee signed the measure Wednesday, and the law will take effect in July.

Shelters have been required to provide notification of a child's whereabouts since 1995, but the time of notification was expanded from eight hours to 72 hours in 2010. Those changes expired last year, but are made permanent under the new measure that was sponsored by Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam.