Report 2014-109 Recommendation Responses
Report 2014-109: Sexual Assault Evidence Kits: Although Testing All Kits Could Benefit Sexual Assault Investigations, the Extent of the Benefits Is Unknown (Release Date: October 2014)
Recommendation for Legislative Action
To provide the Legislature and the public with more complete information about agency decisions not to analyze sexual assault evidence kits, the Legislature should direct agencies to report annually to Justice their reasons for not analyzing sexual assault evidence kits. The Legislature should require an annual report from Justice that details this information.
Description of Legislative Action
Assembly Bill 41 (Chiu, Chapter 694, Statutes of 2017) requires 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 is untested, except as specified and requires the California Department of Justice to file a report to the Legislature on an annual basis summarizing the information in its database.
- Legislative Action Current As-of: October 2017
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Legislation Enacted
Description of Legislative Action
Assembly Bill 909 would have required a law enforcement agency responsible for taking or processing rape kit evidence to annually report, by July 1 of each year, to the Department of Justice information pertaining to the processing of rape kits, including the number of rape kits the law enforcement agency collects, the number of those rape kits that are tested, and the number of those rape kits that are not tested. For those rape kits that are not tested, the bill would have required the law enforcement agency to also report the reason the rape kit was not tested. This bill died in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
- Legislative Action Current As-of: October 2016
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Legislation Proposed But Not Enacted
Description of Legislative Action
Legislation has not been introduced to address this specific recommendation. However, AB 1848 was introduced on February 9, 2016, to serve as a placeholder for changes to the Sexual Assault Victims DNA Bill of Rights. The bill did not pass.
- Legislative Action Current As-of: March 2016
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Legislation Proposed But Not Enacted
Description of Legislative Action
Legislation has not been introduced to address this specific recommendation
- Legislative Action Current As-of: February 2015