BILL ANALYSIS
AB 558
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 558 (Portantino)
As Amended October 26, 2009
Majority vote
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PUBLIC SAFETY 7-0
(vote not relevant)
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| | |Ayes:|Ammiano, Hagman, |
| | | |Furutani, Gilmore, Hill, |
| | | |Huffman, Skinner |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 15-0
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|Ayes:|De Leon, Conway, Ammiano, | | |
| |Bradford, Charles | | |
| |Calderon, Coto, Davis, | | |
| |Fuentes, Hall, Nielsen, | | |
| |John A. Perez, Skinner, | | |
| |Solorio, Audra | | |
| |Strickland, Torlakson | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires that, by July 1 of each year, each local law
enforcement agency responsible for taking or processing rape kit
evidence shall report various information related to the
collection and testing of rape kits. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires each local law enforcement agency responsible for
taking or processing rape kit evidence shall report, by July 1
of each year, the following information to the Department of
Justice (DOJ):
a) The total number of rape kits received during the
preceding calendar year and, of that total, the number of
rape kits for which the identity of the assailant is
unknown and the number of rape kits for which the identity
of the assailant is contested;
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b) The total number of rape kits tested during the
preceding calendar year and, of that total, the number of
rape kits for which the identity of the assailant is
unknown and the number of rape kits for which the identity
of the assailant is contested;
c) The total number of rape kits that law enforcement has
requested be tested and, of that total, the number of rape
kits for which the identity of the assailant is unknown and
the number of rape kits for which the identity of the
assailant is contested;
d) The number of rape kits that law enforcement has
requested be tested that remain untested and, of that
number, the number of rape kits for which the identity of
the assailant is unknown and the number of rape kits for
which the identity of the assailant is contested;
e) The total number of untested rape kits in its possession
as of January 1 of the reporting year; and,
f) The total number of rape kits destroyed during the
preceding calendar year. The initial report to the DOJ
pursuant to this bill shall be made by July 1, 2012.
2)States the reports received pursuant to bill are subject to
inspection under the California Public Records Act, as
specified.
3)Provides that this bill will remain operative only until July
1, 2016 and shall sunset on January 1, 2017, unless later
enacted.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee analysis:
1)Minor reimbursable local costs.
2)Negligible, if any, General Fund costs to DOJ, as this bill
does not require DOJ to do anything with the information it
receives from local agencies.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Last year it was
discovered that the City and County of Los Angeles had over
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10,000 unopened rape kits in their evidence lockers. Of these,
the City of Los Angeles alone had 403 unopened rape kits that
were the result of stranger rapes. It is na?ve to believe that
the Los Angeles area is the only community in the state that is
not testing its rape kits. AB 558 will require all law
enforcement agencies to report to the California Department of
Justice their statistics on the numbers of rape kits that they
collect and test and the numbers of these kits that are stranger
rapes or where the identity of the assailant is contested.
Because the first report is not due until July 1, 2012, local
law enforcement will be able to tabulate rape kits as they are
collected, keeping related costs at a minimum. Legislative
fiscal committees have estimated that these costs will not meet
levels requiring reimbursement as a local mandate.
"Most local governments currently use the Department of Justice
criminal lab to test their rape kits. Although not ultimately
adopted, the Legislative Analysts Office and several of the
recent budget bills proposed requiring the DOJ crime lab to
start billing local government for services such as testing rape
kits. Such a practice would create a tremendous financial
disincentive to test rape kits. Enacting AB 558 will allow us
to track the testing of rape kits by our local law enforcement
agencies. While not all rape kits need to tested, the report
to the DOJ will identify kits that are collected as the result
of stranger rapes and identity contested rapes. These are the
kits that should almost always be tested. It is my intent that
the mandated report to DOJ only includes the kits that are
collected after the effective date of the legislation. By
reporting kits that are collected after enactment of AB 558, the
cost to local law enforcement agencies will be minimal. Law
enforcement can categorize kits as they are collected as part of
their normal evidence collection procedures. It is not my
intent that local law enforcement be required to go to their
evidence lockers and count kits collected prior to January 1,
2011."
Please see the policy committee for a full discussion of this
bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Horiuchi / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
AB 558
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FN: 0003618