BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2440
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
2440 (Gatto)
As Amended May 27, 2016
2/3 vote
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|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 | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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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
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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
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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
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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