Nalani Johnson Rule - Chaffin Luhana Foundation

The Nalani Johnson Rule

#ForNalani

Nalani Johnson was much like any other toddler. She was just starting out in life, often wore her hair in two pigtails, looked great in pink, and had a grandmother and family who adored her. But on August 31, 2019, she was abducted in the Penn Hills area of Pittsburgh, PA despite her father immediately calling 911, it took hours for the AMBER Alert to issue. By then, it was too late. Nalani’s abductor had killed her and abandoned her body in an adjacent county.

Her grandmother, Taji Walsh, wants answers. This tragedy could have been avoided, she says, if the public had been alerted sooner. Chaffin Luhana agrees, so we’ve taken on this case pro-bono, drafted a proposed amendment to the law, and started a petition to change things for the good of the children of Pennsylvania. To do this, we need your help.

Other children across the nation have suffered the same fate. They deserve better, so we’re banding together with concerned parents and community members to support the passage of House Bill 509, or the “Nalani Johnson Rule”, an amendment drafted by Chaffin Luhana LLP and recently introduced in the PA State Legislature by Representative Anthony DeLuca and 20 co-sponsors, with the goal of changing the AMBER Alert System in Pennsylvania so that this sort of tragedy doesn’t happen again.

The Nalani Johnson Rule: House Bill 509

Chaffin Luhana wants to help avoid tragedies such as those that befell Nalani and her family by supporting the Pennsylvania Legislature to pass the Nalani Johnson Rule. This proposed amendment would allow law enforcement to immediately activate an AMBER Alert in the case of abducted children under the age of 13—even in the absence of certain criteria.

"For children under age 13," the amendment reads, "if a parent or family member reports that their child was abducted by a non-parent or non-family member, there shall be a presumption, absent immediately clear evidence to the contrary, that the Particularly Vulnerable Child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death and the Missing Endangered Person Advisory System shall be immediately activated without additional investigation prior to the activation of the Amber Alert System."

The Chaffin Luhana Foundation fully supports the passage of the Nalani Johnson Rule, but we need your help. Representative Anthony DeLuca of Pennsylvania sponsored the bill in the House with the support of 20 PA Representative co-sponsors—both Democrats and Republicans—and you can make your voice heard in this important cause by clicking here to sign the petition advocating for the PA legislature to pass the bill into law, thereby helping prevent the loss of more innocent children like Nalani.