Amended in Assembly May 9, 2016

Amended in Assembly March 15, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 1848


Introduced by Assemblybegin delete Member Chiuend deletebegin insert Members Chiu and Quirkend insert

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(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Burke)

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Cooper, Cristina Garcia, and Weber)

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(Coauthor: Senator Glazer)

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February 9, 2016


An act to add Section 680.1 to the Penal Code, relating to DNA evidence.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1848, as amended, Chiu. DNA evidence.

Existing law establishes the “Sexual Assault Victims’ DNA Bill of Rights,” which, among other things, encourages a law enforcement agency assigned to investigate specified sexual assault offenses to perform DNA testing of rape kit evidence or other crime scene evidence in a timely manner to assure the longest possible statute of limitations. Existing law also requires a law enforcement agency to inform victims of certain unsolved sexual assault offenses if the law enforcement agency elects not to analyze DNA evidence within certain time limits.

This bill would require law enforcement agencies to report information regarding rape kit evidence to the department through a database established by the department. The bill would require that information to include, among other things, the number of kits collected, the number of kits from which one or more biological evidence samples were submitted to a DNA laboratory for analysis, and the number of kits from which a probative DNA profile was generated. The bill would additionally require a public DNA laboratory, or a law enforcement agency contracting with a private laboratory, to provide a reason for not testing a sample every 120 days the sample isbegin delete untested.end deletebegin insert untested, except as specified.end insert By imposing additional duties on local law enforcement, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.

This bill would require the department to file a report to the Legislature onbegin delete a quarterlyend deletebegin insert an annualend insert basis summarizing the information in its database. The bill would prohibit law enforcement agencies or laboratories from being compelled to provide any contents of the database in a civil or criminal case, except as required by a law enforcement agency’s duty to produce exculpatory evidence to a defendant in a criminal case.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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SECTION 1.  

Section 680.1 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

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680.1.  

(a) The Legislature finds and declares the following:

3(1) There is a significant public interest in knowing what
4percentage of rape kit biological samples are analyzed for the
5perpetrator’s DNA profile, as well as why any untested rape kit
6samples are not analyzed. Currently, there is no mandatory
7statewide tracking mechanism in place to collect and report these
8metrics. It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this section,
P3    1pursuant to recommendations by the California State Auditor to
2the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, to correct that.

3(2) In 2015, the Department of Justice created the Sexual Assault
4Forensic Evidence Tracking (SAFE-T) database to track the status
5 of all sexual assault evidence kits collected in the state based on
6voluntary data input from law enforcement agencies. It is the intent
7of the Legislature by enacting this section to require participation
8in that database.

9(b) On a schedule set forth by the Department of Justice, each
10law enforcement agency that has investigated a case involving the
11collection of sexual assault kit evidence during the relevant period
12of time, as determined by the department, shall report to the
13department, through the SAFE-T database, the data required by
14the department in its communications to law enforcement. The
15data shall include, but are not limited to, the following:

16(1) The number of kits collected during the period.

17(2) The number of kits from which one or more biological
18evidence samples were submitted to a DNA laboratory for analysis.

19(3) The number of kits from which a probative DNA profile
20was generated.

21(4) The reason or reasons for not submitting evidence from a
22given rape kit to a DNA laboratory for processing.

23(c) After 120 days following submission of rape kit biological
24evidence for processing, if a public DNA laboratory has not
25conducted DNA testing, that laboratory shall provide the reasons
26for the status in the appropriate SAFE-T data field. If the
27investigating law enforcement agency has contracted with a private
28laboratory to conduct DNA testing on rape kit evidence, the
29submitting law enforcement agency shall provide the 120-day
30update in SAFE-T. The process described in this subdivision shall
31take place every 120 days until DNA testingbegin delete occurs.end deletebegin insert occurs, except
32as provided in subdivision (d).end insert

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(d) Upon expiration of a sexual assault case’s statute of
34limitations set forth in Section 803, or if a law enforcement agency
35elects not to analyze the DNA or intends to destroy or dispose of
36the crime scene evidence pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section
37680, the investigating law enforcement agency shall state in writing
38the reason the kit collected as part of that case’s investigation was
39not analyzed. This written statement relieves the investigating law
P4    1enforcement agency or public laboratory of any further duty to
2report information related to that kit pursuant to this section.

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3(d)

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4begin insert(e)end insert The SAFE-T database shall not contain any identifying
5information about a victim or a suspect, shall not contain any DNA
6profiles, and shall not contain any information that would impair
7a pending criminal investigation.

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8(e)

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9begin insert(f)end insert Onbegin delete a quarterlyend deletebegin insert an annualend insert basis, the Department of Justice
10shall file a report to the Legislature in compliance with Section
119795 of the Government Code summarizing data entered into the
12SAFE-T database during that year. The report shall not reference
13individual victims, suspects, investigations, or prosecutions. The
14report shall be made public by the department.

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15(f)

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16begin insert(g)end insert Except as provided in subdivisionbegin delete (e),end deletebegin insert (f),end insert in order to protect
17the confidentiality of the SAFE-T database information, SAFE-T
18database contents shall be confidential and a participating law
19enforcement agency or laboratory shall not be compelled in a
20criminal or civil proceeding, except as required by a law
21 enforcement agency’s duty to produce exculpatory evidence to a
22criminal defendant, to provide any SAFE-T database contents to
23any person or party seeking those records or information.

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SEC. 2.  

The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of
25this act, which adds Section 680.1 to the Penal Code, imposes a
26limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public
27bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the
28meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution.
29Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes
30the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this
31limitation and the need for protecting that interest:

32In order to protect the privacy of victims of crime, it is necessary
33to keep the information in the SAFE-T database confidential.

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SEC. 3.  

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
35this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
36local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
37pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
384 of Title 2 of the Government Code.



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