BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2440 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 2440 (Gatto) As Amended May 27, 2016 2/3 vote ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Public Safety |7-0 |Jones-Sawyer, | | | | |Melendez, Lackey, | | | | |Lopez, Low, Quirk, | | | | |Santiago | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | | | | |Bloom, Bonilla, | | | | |Bonta, Calderon, | | | | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | | | | |Gallagher, Eduardo | | | | |Garcia, Roger | | | | |Hernández, Holden, | | | | |Jones, Obernolte, | | | | |Quirk, Santiago, | | | | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ AB 2440 Page 2 SUMMARY: Appropriates $15 million to fund a County deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) Identification Fund. Specifically, this bill: 1)Appropriates $15 million to fund a County DNA Identification Fund. 2)Specifies funds pursuant to this section shall only be used for the following purposes: a) To assist law enforcement agencies within the county, including local sheriff and district attorney agencies, with the identification, review, and investigation of unsolved serious or violent cold cases to determine if biological evidence exists that could provide a DNA investigative lead to law enforcement, including, but not limited to, the DNA profile of a putative suspect that could be uploaded into national, state, local, or other law enforcement DNA databases, and when more than three years have elapsed since the date of violation of the cold case crime. b) To assist law enforcement agencies within the county, including local sheriff and district attorney agencies, with the investigation of cases where crime scene biological evidence has been collected and analyzed and a DNA profile that could provide an investigative lead to law enforcement agencies, including, but not limited to, the DNA profile of a putative suspect, has been generated and uploaded into national, state, local, or other law enforcement DNA databases and a DNA match has resulted in the identification of a putative suspect or a match to a DNA profile from another crime scene. 3)Requires the district attorney to publicize, as specified, when an investigation using these funds results in a solved case. AB 2440 Page 3 4)Specifies that the funds shall be appropriated from the General Fund to the Controller for apportionment to counties based on the county's proportionate contribution to the state's DNA Identification Fund as specified. EXISTING LAW: 1)Specifies that the "Missing Persons DNA Database" shall be funded by a $2 fee increase on death certificates issued by a local governmental agency or by the State of California. The issuing agencies may retain up to 5% of the funds from the fee increase for administrative costs. 2)Funds shall be directed on a quarterly basis to the "Missing Persons DNA Data Base Fund," hereby established, to be administered by the department for establishing and maintaining laboratory infrastructure, DNA sample storage, DNA analysis, and labor costs for cases of missing persons and unidentified remains. Funds may also be distributed by the department to various counties for the purposes of pathology and exhumation consistent with this title. The department may also use those funds to publicize the database for the purpose of contacting parents and relatives so that they may provide a DNA sample for training law enforcement officials about the database and DNA sampling and for outreach. 3)Provides that the Department of Justice (DOJ) shall develop a DNA database for all cases involving the report of an unidentified deceased person or a high-risk missing person. 4)Provides that the database shall be comprised of DNA data from AB 2440 Page 4 genetic markers that are appropriate for human identification, but have no capability to predict biological function other than gender. These markers shall be selected by the department and may change as the technology for DNA typing progresses. The results of DNA typing shall be compatible with and uploaded into the CODIS DNA database established by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The sole purpose of this database shall be to identify missing persons and shall be kept separate from the database established as specified. 5)Provides that DOJ shall compare DNA samples taken from the remains of unidentified deceased persons with DNA samples taken from personal articles belonging to the missing person, or from the parents or appropriate relatives of high-risk missing persons. 6)Defines "high-risk missing person" means a person missing as a result of a stranger abduction, a person missing under suspicious circumstances, a person missing under unknown circumstances, or where there is reason to assume that the person is in danger, or deceased, and that person has been missing more than 30 days, or less than 30 days in the discretion of the investigating agency. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, one-time General Fund appropriation of $15 million COMMENTS: According to the author "AB 2440 will ensure that local law enforcement has the necessary funding to pursue DNA matches and investigate cold cases. Funds to local law enforcement have been reduced in recent years, and the resources to investigate and follow-up on DNA cold hits is limited. Simultaneously, the value of DNA evidence has become even more apparent, and state mandates requiring expedited investigation of these leads has put additional tension on already strained AB 2440 Page 5 local resources. AB 2440 will provide crucial funding to aid local law enforcement in the use of this valuable investigatory tool." Analysis Prepared by: Gabriel Caswell/ PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0003164