Add §837-s, amd §216-a, Exec L; amd §2805-i, Pub Health L
Requires law enforcement agencies to inventory and report to the scientific crime detection laboratory and the attorney general's office the number of untested sexual assault collection kits; requires the scientific crime detection laboratory to report to the legislature the number of untested sexual assault collection kits held by each county; requires a plan for addressing the backlog of untested kits.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6052--B
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 11, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Codes -- recommitted to the Committee on Codes in accord-
ance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee -- again reported from said committee with amendments, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the executive law and the public health law, in relation
to reporting duties of law enforcement agencies, forensic laboratories
and healthcare providers with respect to sexual offense evidence kits
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 837-s
2 to read as follows:
3 § 837-s. Reporting duties of law enforcement agencies with respect to
4 sexual offense evidence kits. 1. As used in this section:
5 (a) "Forensic medical examination" means an examination by a health
6 care provider of a victim of a potential sex offense pursuant to section
7 twenty-eight hundred five-i of the public health law or otherwise for
8 the purposes of gathering and preserving evidence of a sex offense.
9 (b) "Sexual offense evidence kit" means a human biological specimen or
10 specimens collected by a health care provider during a forensic medical
11 examination from the victim of a potential sex offense submitted to,
12 maintained by or stored with a law enforcement agency for the purpose of
13 gathering and preserving evidence of a sex offense for possible use in a
14 criminal case.
15 (c) "Untested sexual offense evidence kit" means a sexual offense
16 evidence kit that has not been submitted to the scientific crime
17 detection laboratory as defined in section two hundred sixteen-a of this
18 chapter, a forensic DNA laboratory as defined in subdivision two of
19 section nine hundred ninety-five of this chapter or another similar
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08215-05-6
A. 6052--B 2
1 qualified laboratory for either a serology or deoxyribonucleic acid
2 (DNA) test.
3 2. Each law enforcement agency that accepts sexual offense evidence
4 kits for investigation shall create an inventory of those kits submitted
5 to the agency. The inventory shall detail, at a minimum, the date the
6 kit was received by such agency, the hospital or other health care
7 facility or practitioner from which it was received, the date the kit
8 was tested, and if applicable the reason why the kit was not submitted
9 for testing. Upon the effective date of this section, each law enforce-
10 ment agency in the state shall prepare such an inventory concerning all
11 of the sexual offense evidence kits then in such agency's possession or
12 control.
13 3. Within one year of the effective date of this section, each law
14 enforcement agency to or with which a sexual offense evidence kit has
15 been submitted, maintained, or stored shall compile, in writing, a
16 report detailing the number of untested sexual offense evidence kits, as
17 defined in paragraph (c) of subdivision one of this section, in the
18 possession or control of such agency, including but not limited to the
19 date each sexual offense evidence kit was collected by such agency. The
20 report shall be transmitted to the division of criminal justice services
21 and the department of health. The division of criminal justice services
22 shall promptly prepare and transmit to the temporary president of the
23 senate and speaker of the assembly a report setting forth the number of
24 untested sexual offense evidence kits in the possession or control of
25 each law enforcement agency in the state and the month and year each
26 untested sexual offense evidence kit was collected. Such report from the
27 division of criminal justice services shall include a plan for address-
28 ing any backlog of untested sexual offence evidence kits.
29 § 2. Section 216-a of the executive law is amended by adding a new
30 subdivision 3 to read as follows:
31 3. Each scientific crime detection laboratory or any other similarly
32 qualified laboratory in this state that has received one or more sexual
33 offense evidence kits, as defined in paragraph (b) of subdivision one of
34 section eight hundred thirty-seven-s of this chapter, shall prepare and
35 transmit a report to both the division of criminal justice services and
36 the department of health setting forth the number of untested sexual
37 offense evidence kits in the possession or control of such laboratory.
38 The report shall include, at a minimum, the date each untested sexual
39 offense evidence kit was submitted for testing. The division of criminal
40 justice services shall promptly prepare and transmit a report based upon
41 the information provided pursuant to this subdivision to the temporary
42 president of the senate and speaker of the assembly. The report shall
43 include a plan for addressing any backlog of untested sexual offense
44 evidence kits.
45 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 2805-i of the public health law is
46 amended by adding a new paragraph (d) to read as follows:
47 (d) reporting quarterly to the department on the disposition or trans-
48 fer of all sexual offense evidence kits. The report shall detail, at a
49 minimum, how many such kits under the hospital's care were transferred
50 to law enforcement or forensic laboratories, including the scientific
51 crime detection laboratory and other similarly qualified laboratories,
52 to whom each kit was transferred, and the date on which each kit was
53 transferred.
54 § 4. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
55 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
56 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
A. 6052--B 3
1 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
2 on or before such effective date.
