Dalton's Law

SALEM – Oregon State Representative Donna Nelson (R-McMinnville) has introduced House Bill 3176, named Dalton’s Law, in honor of the late Dalton Robertson. Dalton was a close friend of Representative Nelson’s family.

In 2005, Dalton Robertson disappeared, along with his brand new car. The car did not yet have license plates, but was equipped with LoJack. Despite requests by Dalton’s mother and local law enforcement, LoJack was unable to provide information on the whereabouts of the vehicle without permission from Dalton himself. Dalton was found dead five days later; the coroner’s report indicated Dalton died earlier that day.

“It is such a tragedy, and it might have been stopped had emergency services been able to use the information available from his automobile,” said Representative Nelson. “I’m bringing Dalton’s Law to Oregon to help prevent this from happening again, to help save lives.”

House Bill 3176 would give emergency personnel the ability to obtain information from telematic service providers, the companies providing such services as LoJack and OnStar for the owners of new automobiles, when there is probable cause to believe lives are in danger. “This is as appropriate as the Amber Alert System,” Representative Nelson stated. “It takes the search for a missing person from a needle-in-a-haystack to a precise search and rescue—and it protects service providers who risk liability from providing customer information.”

House Bill 3176 has bipartisan support in the Oregon Legislative Assembly. Representative Nelson is currently working with Oregon’s law enforcement community to help garner additional support for Dalton’s Law.

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