Amber Dubois

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday signed three measures designed to bring abducted children home before they fall victims to horrific crimes, like what happened to Escondido teenager Amber Dubois.

“We’re ecstatic, Hopefully this will help,” said Moe Dubois, Amber’s father who sponsored the legislation in her memory.

Amber, 14, was snatched from an Escondido street in February 2009. Her body was found earlier this year.

A convicted sex offender, John Albert Gardner in April pleaded guilty to the crime and also to raping and murdering Poway teenager Chelsea King in February of this year. He is serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole. The latter incident resulted in the broader “Chelsea’s Law” to crackdown on sex offenders.

Earlier this year, Dubois stressed the need for the bills. “When a child is being taken from you a mile a minute, every minute counts.”

He said he will continue to push for more child protection.

“This year we focused on recovery. Next year we will focus on prevention,” he said.

The three measures are:

• Assembly Bill 34 requires the state to report an abduction to a national tracking system within two hours, instead of the current four hours.

• Assembly Bill 33 requires improved law enforcement coordination across jurisdictions to improve responses to abductions.

• Assembly Bill 1022 creates a the position of “director of missing children operations” to oversee programs aimed at reducing abductions.