BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2499
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Date of Hearing: April 27, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2499 (Maienschein) - As Amended March 15, 2016
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|Policy |Public Safety |Vote:|7 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires the Department of Justice (DOJ), on or before
July 1, 2018, and in consultation with law enforcement agencies
and crime victims groups, to update Sexual Assault Forensic
Evidence Tracking (SAFE-T) to allow victims to access the
database to review the disposition of their rape kit.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Unknown moderate cost to DOJ, probably in excess of $300,000,
for computer programming and development to provide rape victims
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secure access to SAFE-T, a law enforcement-only database at this
time.
COMMENTS:
1)Background. Current law requires law enforcement agencies to
inform victims of sexual assault, as specified, if the law
enforcement agency intends to destroy a rape kit in an
unsolved case prior to the expiration of the statute of
limitations for the underlying sexual assault offense. And it
allows law enforcement agencies to inform victims of sexual
assault, as specified, of the status of their rape kit when
the victim requests an update.
Current law also provides sexual assault victims the following
rights, subject to the commitment of sufficient resources to
respond to requests for information:
a) The right to be informed whether or not a DNA profile of
the assailant was obtained from the testing of their rape
kit or from other evidence from the crime scene,
b) The right to be informed whether or not the DNA profile
of the assailant has been entered into DOJ's Data Bank of
case evidence, and
c) The right to be informed whether or not there was a
match between the DNA profile of the assailant and a DNA
profile contained in the combined DNA Index System (CODIS),
provided that disclosure would not impede or compromise an
ongoing investigation.
SAFE-T was created by DOJ in 2015 in part to help track how
many rape kits were not being tested and why, to help
determine the scope of the problem and to determine if
mandatory testing may lead to the apprehension of more repeat
offenders or the exoneration of more criminal defendants.
SAFE-T is accessible only by law enforcement agencies and DOJ,
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due to the sensitive investigatory and privacy concerns of the
information contained in the database. The database includes
the disposition of rape kits both at the local law enforcement
agency investigating the sexual assault allegation and the
disposition of rape kits that have been sent to a crime
laboratory for testing.
2)Purpose. According to the author, "The upgrade required in AB
2499, will give a victim of sexual assault the ability to
track the progress of their DNA kit while it is being analyzed
and processed in the crime lab via a secure, electronic
process. This will provide the victims with peace of mind by
being able to see where their kit is in the process and ensure
that law enforcement is doing their duty to analyze the DNA
kit in a timely manner."
3)Interaction with AB 1848 (Chiu). AB 2499 will not provide
information regarding why a rape kit has or has not been
tested, but AB 1848 (Chiu) requires more information to be
entered into SAFE-T that victims will be able to access if
both bills are enacted. Currently, neither crime laboratories
nor law enforcement agencies are required to test rape kits,
nor are they currently required to include in SAFE-T the
reasons why any particular rape kit has not been tested. AB
1848 (Chiu), requires law enforcement agencies to include the
reason or reasons why each rape kit under their control has
not been tested.
4)Related Legislation:
a) AB 1848 (Chiu), discussed above, is also on today's
calendar.
b) AB 909 (Quirk), which is very similar to AB 1848, was
held on Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense file..
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5)Prior Legislation:
a) AB 1517 (Skinner), Chapter 874, Statutes of 2014,
encourages law enforcement agencies to submit sexual
assault forensic evidence received by the agency to a crime
lab within 20 days after it is booked into evidence, and
ensure that a rapid turnaround DNA program is in place to
submit forensic evidence collected from the victim of a
sexual assault to a crime lab within five days after the
evidence is obtained from the victim.
b) AB 558 (Portantino), of the 2009-2010 Legislative
Session, would have required local law enforcement agencies
responsible for taking or collecting rape kit evidence to
annually report to the Department of Justice statistical
information pertaining to the testing and submission for
DNA analysis of rape kits. This bill was vetoed by
Governor Schwarzenegger.
c) AB 898 (Chu), Chapter 537, Statutes of 2003, established
the "Sexual Assault Victims' DNA Bill of Rights."
Analysis Prepared by:Pedro Reyes / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 2499
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