House File 376 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 376 BY ANDERSON , McCONKEY , H. MILLER , GASSMAN , GASKILL , BEARINGER , KEARNS , T. TAYLOR , STECKMAN , OURTH , STAED , RUNNING-MARQUARDT , BERRY , SMITH , HUNTER , BROWN-POWERS , THEDE , WOLFE , MASCHER , and HANSON A BILL FOR An Act relating to untested sexual abuse evidence collection 1 kits stored at law enforcement agencies. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 1323HH (9) 86 jm/rj

H.F. 376 Section 1. SEXUAL ABUSE EVIDENCE COLLECTION KIT —— 1 INVENTORY. 2 1. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise 3 requires: 4 a. “Laboratory” means the state criminalistics laboratory 5 or similar qualified laboratory. 6 b. “Law enforcement agency” means any governmental agency 7 that investigates persons suspected of or charged with a 8 sex abuse crime. “Law enforcement agency” also includes 9 any governmental agency that collects, stores, processes, 10 transmits, or disseminates analysis of evidence collected in 11 connection with a sexual abuse related crime. 12 c. “Forensic medical examination” means a sexual abuse 13 examination by a health care provider for the purpose of 14 gathering and preserving evidence of sexual abuse. 15 d. “Sexual abuse evidence collection kit” means a sexual 16 abuse evidence collection kit that includes a human biological 17 specimen collected by a health care provider during a forensic 18 medical examination conducted pursuant to section 709.10, 19 subsection 1. 20 e. “Untested sexual abuse evidence collection kit” means 21 a sexual abuse evidence collection kit collected pursuant to 22 section 709.10 that has not been submitted to a laboratory for 23 either a serology or deoxyribonucleic acid test. 24 2. The department of justice shall conduct a survey of law 25 enforcement agencies charged with the maintenance, storage, 26 or preservation of untested sexual abuse evidence collection 27 kits. The survey shall contain the following requirements or 28 questions: 29 a. Does your agency presently store untested sexual abuse 30 evidence collection kits? 31 b. Where does your agency store untested sexual abuse 32 evidence collection kits? 33 c. Please inventory all untested sexual abuse evidence 34 collection kits, and identify any of the following that apply: 35 -1- LSB 1323HH (9) 86 jm/rj 1/ 4

H.F. 376 (1) The unique identifier for the kit. 1 (2) The date the crime occurred. 2 (3) The date of examination and forensic collection. 3 (4) The reason for not submitting the kit to the laboratory 4 for analysis: 5 (a) The suspect has not been identified. 6 (b) The existence of doubt about the truthfulness of the 7 victim’s accusation. 8 (c) The case has been dismissed. 9 (d) The uncertainty about the usefulness of the forensic 10 evidence in the untested sexual abuse evidence collection kit. 11 (e) The suspect has been identified but not formally 12 charged. 13 (f) Insufficient funds for testing the sexual abuse 14 evidence collection kit. 15 (g) The victim did not file charges. 16 (h) Whether consent was an issue in the case. 17 (i) Perceived laboratory guidelines. 18 (j) Other reasons. 19 d. (1) In the inventory of your agency, how many untested 20 sexual abuse evidence collection kits contain collected 21 forensic evidence that have not been sent to a laboratory? 22 (2) In the inventory of your agency, how many untested 23 sexual abuse evidence collection kits are held for which the 24 crime was not reported to law enforcement, but the kit was 25 still delivered to your law enforcement agency for storage? 26 e. How many untested sexual abuse evidence collection 27 kits has you law enforcement agency destroyed in the past two 28 calendar years? 29 f. Under what circumstances is an untested sexual abuse 30 evidence collection kit destroyed or disposed of by the agency? 31 Please identify any of the following that apply: 32 (1) Chain of evidence was compromised. 33 (2) Box or contents were tainted. 34 (3) Case is more than ten years old. 35 -2- LSB 1323HH (9) 86 jm/rj 2/ 4

H.F. 376 (4) Victim requested evidence be destroyed. 1 (5) Victim recanted report. 2 (6) Investigator has left agency. 3 (7) The agency has moved. 4 (8) Other circumstances. 5 3. The law enforcement agency shall submit the answers to 6 the survey to the department of justice by January 1, 2016. 7 If a law enforcement agency does not possess any untested 8 sexual abuse evidence collection kits, the agency shall provide 9 written confirmation of such a fact to the department of 10 justice by January 1, 2016. 11 4. a. The department of justice shall compile the results 12 of the survey and submit a written report to the general 13 assembly no later than March 15, 2016, detailing the results 14 of the survey. 15 b. The report shall also include the name and contact 16 information of each law enforcement agency that failed to 17 submit answers to the survey as required by subsection 3. 18 Sec. 2. IMPLEMENTATION OF ACT. Section 25B.2, subsection 19 3, shall not apply to this Act. 20 EXPLANATION 21 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 22 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 23 This bill relates to untested sexual abuse evidence 24 collection kits stored at law enforcement agencies. 25 The bill requires the department of justice to conduct 26 a survey of law enforcement agencies charged with the 27 maintenance, storage, or preservation of untested sexual 28 abuse evidence collection kits. The bill specifies numerous 29 requirements and questions that are to be a part of the survey 30 sent to law enforcement agencies. 31 The bill requires a law enforcement agency to submit the 32 answers to the survey to the department of justice by January 33 1, 2016. If a law enforcement agency does not possess any 34 untested sexual abuse evidence collection kits, the agency 35 -3- LSB 1323HH (9) 86 jm/rj 3/ 4

H.F. 376 shall provide written confirmation of such a fact to the 1 department of justice by January 1, 2016. 2 The bill requires the department of justice to compile 3 the results of the survey and submit a written report to 4 the general assembly no later than March 15, 2016, detailing 5 the results of the survey. The bill requires the report to 6 also include the name and contact information of each law 7 enforcement agency that failed to submit answers to the survey. 8 The bill defines a “law enforcement agency” to mean any 9 governmental agency that investigates persons suspected of 10 or charged with a sex abuse crime, including any such agency 11 that collects, stores, processes, transmits, or disseminates 12 analysis of evidence collected in a sexual abuse crime. 13 The bill may include a state mandate as defined in Code 14 section 25B.3. The bill makes inapplicable Code section 25B.2, 15 subsection 3, which would relieve a political subdivision from 16 complying with a state mandate if funding for the cost of 17 the state mandate is not provided or specified. Therefore, 18 political subdivisions are required to comply with any state 19 mandate included in the bill. 20 -4- LSB 1323HH (9) 86 jm/rj 4/ 4