Bill > H3454

This bill establishes new timelines and reporting requirements for the submission and analysis of sexual assault forensic evidence, which includes evidence collected from individuals after a sexual assault or rape, even if the incident wasn't reported to law enforcement. Specifically, law enforcement agencies must submit this evidence to a crime laboratory, defined as a facility that conducts forensic and DNA analysis for criminal investigations, within 30 days of receiving it. If the evidence contains a DNA sample, the crime laboratory must analyze it and provide the DNA record to the appropriate law enforcement agency within 180 days of submission. The bill also mandates that by July 1, 2015, law enforcement agencies must report any existing backlog of sexual assault evidence to the secretary of public safety and security, and then submit that backlog evidence to a crime laboratory within 180 days of the bill's effective date. Furthermore, the secretary of public safety and security is required to produce a report by January 1, 2016, detailing a plan for analyzing all DNA samples from this backlog, including a summary of the inventory and a request for necessary funding. Importantly, the failure of either a law enforcement agency or a crime laboratory to meet these deadlines will not be used as a defense in any criminal prosecution related to the evidence.