NY State Senate Bill S8117

Archive: Last Bill Status - Signed by Governor

Introduced
In Committee
On Floor Calendar
- Passed Senate
- Passed Assembly
Delivered to Governor
Signed by Governor

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Actions

view actions (12)

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Nov 28, 2016	approval memo.21 signed chap.500
Nov 16, 2016	delivered to governor
Jun 16, 2016	returned to senate passed assembly ordered to third reading rules cal.502 substituted for a10067a referred to ways and means delivered to assembly passed senate ordered to third reading cal.1891
Jun 13, 2016	referred to rules

Votes

Co-Sponsors

S8117 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A10067
Law Section:: Public Health Law
Laws Affected:: Add §838-a, Exec L

S8117 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Provides for the processing of and maintenance of sexual offense evidence kits.

S8117 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

 BILL NUMBER:  S8117

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the executive law, in relation to
the processing and maintenance of sexual offense evidence kits

 PURPOSE :

To ensure that sexual offense evidence (rape kits) taken from victims
are transferred to forensic labs and processed and entered in the
Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) in a timely manner in order to match
DNA against other data banks. The bill also ensures rape kits are
tracked from police agency to labs and that reports are provided to
DCJS on a quarterly basis.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of the bill adds a new section to the executive law
directing that all sexual offense evidence kits collected and
surrendered to police agencies shall be submitted to a forensic
laboratory within 10 days of receipt and the forensic lab shall
process the evidence received and communicate the results to the
submitting agency and the local DA, within 90 days of receipt.
Evidence collected prior to the effective date of this section shall
be submitted to labs within 180 days of the effective date and such
labs shall process such evidence within 120 days of receipt. The bill
directs forensic laboratories and police agencies to report to the

division of criminal justice services quarterly on the number of kits
received, tested and returned to law enforcement agencies. that a
secure transport of sexual offense evidence be established in order to
reduce duplication and costs associated with each police agency
maintaining the chain of custody of evidence while transporting such
evidence in a timely manner. Finally, the bill directs the division to
ensure that all agencies engaged in a law enforcement function in the
satte and all forensic laboratories are educated and aware of the
provisions of this section.

Section 2 of the bill provides an effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Unlike many states, New York does not require evidence collected from
rape victims to be processed in a timely manner so that this
information can be included in federal DNA database CODIS to help
resolve open cases and make the important links that only DNA can.
Victims that undergo the process of submitting sexual offense evidence
should have the peace of mind that this evidence will in fact be
processed. Additionally, the state does not have a mechanism to track
rape kit evidence, so we have no idea how many unprocessed kits there
are around the state. However, recent reports suggest that many
precincts, some more than others, continue to have unprocessed kits on
their shelves. These unprocessed kits may contain valuable information
that once entered into the DNA database may help solve unsolved crimes
and exonerate the innocent.

This legislation provides a mechanism to ensure all rape kits are
processed and tracked by requiring specific time frames for the
transmittal and processing of sexual offensive evidence collected and
surrendered to police agencies. It provides a longer time frame for
testing rape kits received prior to the new requirements to ensure
resolving any backlog does not interfere with cases requiring priority
processing. The 2016-17 adopted state budget included funding to
assist with the timely testing, transport and reporting, and assures
local law enforcement is not burdened with unfunded mandates.

New York State is a national leader. We do not have a statute of
limitations for the most serious sexual assaults, we have a long
standing process to ensure hospitals and clinics are equipped to
collect evidence, and we require DNA samples be given upon all felony
and most misdemeanor convictions, meaning DNA collected in New York is
routinely matched against DNA in the federal data bank. There has been
a national effort to clean up backlogs of unprocessed rape kits.  In
2003 NYC received $2.5 million from the Federal DNA Backlog Reduction
Program to test a backlog of approximately 17,000 rape kits resulting
in the City's rape arrest record going up significantly. As a result
New York City does not have a backlog of untested kits.  While this
was a considerable investment in the City, we have no reliable data on
how many unprocessed rape kits remain in New York State as a whole.
Many other states are making this commitment, and in 2014 District
Attorney Cy Vance used $38 million in settlement money to help 32
jurisdictions and 20 states clean up their backlogs.  In 2015, New
York took new bold measures enshrining the "enough is enough" campaign
against sexual assault on college campuses. This legislation is the
next step in ensuring t hat New York continues to be a national leader
and is doing all it can to protect women, support victims and
exonerate the innocent.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New Bill

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

$500,000 was included in the 2016-17 adopted budget to support this
legislation

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
The 90th day after enactment, provided that paragraphs (c) and (d) of
subdivision 1 shall take effect Immediately

S8117 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  8117

                            I N  S E N A T E

                              June 13, 2016
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  HANNON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules

AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation  to  the  processing  and
  maintenance of sexual offense evidence kits

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section  838-a
to read as follows:
  S 838-A. MAINTENANCE OF SEXUAL OFFENSE EVIDENCE KITS. 1. THE FOLLOWING
REQUIREMENTS SHALL APPLY TO ALL SEXUAL OFFENSE EVIDENCE KITS SURRENDERED
TO  OR COLLECTED BY, AT THE REQUEST OF, OR WITH COOPERATION OF AN AGENCY
ENGAGED IN A LAW ENFORCEMENT FUNCTION IN THE STATE:
  (A) EACH SUCH AGENCY ENGAGED IN A  LAW  ENFORCEMENT  FUNCTION  IN  THE
STATE  SHALL  SUBMIT  ANY SEXUAL OFFENSE EVIDENCE KITS IN ITS CUSTODY OR
CONTROL TO  AN  APPROPRIATE  FORENSIC  LABORATORY  WITHIN  TEN  DAYS  OF
RECEIPT.
  (B)  EACH  FORENSIC  LABORATORY RECEIVING SEXUAL OFFENSE EVIDENCE KITS
AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS  SECTION  SHALL  DEVELOP  COMBINED  DNA
INDEX  SYSTEM  (CODIS)  ELIGIBLE  PROFILES OF ANY POTENTIAL PERPETRATORS
FROM THE EVIDENCE TESTED AND, WITHIN NINETY DAYS AFTER RECEIPT  OF  SUCH
KIT,  REPORT THE RESULTS TO THE SUBMITTING AGENCY AND APPROPRIATE PROSE-
CUTORIAL ENTITY.
  (C) EACH AGENCY ENGAGED IN A LAW ENFORCEMENT  FUNCTION  IN  THE  STATE
THAT, PRIOR TO THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SECTION, HAS ONE OR MORE SEXU-
AL  OFFENSE  EVIDENCE  KITS  IN ITS CUSTODY OR CONTROL SHALL, WITHIN ONE
HUNDRED EIGHTY DAYS AFTER SUCH EFFECTIVE DATE, SUBMIT ALL UNTESTED  KITS
IN ITS POSSESSION OR CONTROL TO AN APPROPRIATE FORENSIC LABORATORY.
  (D) EACH FORENSIC LABORATORY, WITHIN ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY DAYS AFTER
RECEIVING  EACH SEXUAL OFFENSE EVIDENCE KIT PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH (C) OF
THIS SUBDIVISION SHALL DEVELOP  FROM  EVIDENCE  SUBMITTED  COMBINED  DNA
INDEX  SYSTEM  (CODIS)  ELIGIBLE PROFILES FOR ANY POTENTIAL PERPETRATORS
AND SHALL, WITHIN NINETY DAYS OF DEVELOPING SUCH  PROFILES,  REPORT  THE
RESULTS TO THE SUBMITTING AGENCY AND THE APPROPRIATE PROSECUTORIAL ENTI-
TY.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                           LBD13490-07-6

S. 8117                             2

  2. (A) EACH FORENSIC LABORATORY IN THE STATE SHALL REPORT TO THE DIVI-
SION,  ON  A  QUARTERLY  BASIS,  IN WRITING, ON (I) THE NUMBER OF SEXUAL
OFFENSE EVIDENCE KITS IT RECEIVED, (II) THE NUMBER OF  SUCH  KITS  PROC-
ESSED  FOR  THE  PURPOSE OF DEVELOPING COMBINED DNA INDEX SYSTEM (CODIS)
ELIGIBLE PROFILES OF ANY POTENTIAL PERPETRATORS, AND (III) THE NUMBER OF
KITS  NOT  PROCESSED  FOR  TESTING.    (B) EACH AGENCY INVOLVED IN A LAW
ENFORCEMENT FUNCTION IN THE STATE SHALL REPORT  TO  THE  DIVISION  ON  A
QUARTERLY BASIS, IN WRITING, ON (I) THE NUMBER OF ALL THE SEXUAL OFFENSE
EVIDENCE  KITS IT RECEIVED, (II) THE NUMBER OF SUCH KITS IT SUBMITTED TO
A FORENSIC LABORATORY FOR PROCESSING, (III) THE NUMBER OF  KITS  IN  ITS
CUSTODY  OR  CONTROL  THAT HAVE NOT BEEN PROCESSED FOR TESTING, AND (IV)
THE LENGTH OF TIME BETWEEN RECEIPT OF ANY SUCH SEXUAL  OFFENSE  EVIDENCE
KIT AND THE SUBMISSION OF ANY SUCH KIT TO THE FORENSIC LABORATORY.
  3.  THE  DIVISION  SHALL UNDERTAKE ACTIONS DESIGNED TO ENSURE THAT ALL
AGENCIES ENGAGED IN A LAW ENFORCEMENT FUNCTION  IN  THE  STATE  AND  ALL
FORENSIC  LABORATORIES  ARE EDUCATED AND AWARE OF THE PROVISIONS OF THIS
SECTION.
  S 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
have  become  a  law;  provided, however, that paragraphs (c) and (d) of
subdivision 1 of section 838-a of the executive law as added by  section
one of this act, shall take effect immediately.

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The New York State Senate

senate Bill S8117

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - Signed by Governor

Your Voice

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Votes

Jun 16, 2016 - floor Vote

Floor Vote: Jun 16, 2016

Jun 16, 2016 - Rules committee Vote

Rules Committee Vote: Jun 16, 2016

Co-Sponsors

S8117 (ACTIVE) - Details

S8117 (ACTIVE) - Summary

S8117 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

S8117 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

senate Bill S8117

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Sponsored By

Kemp Hannon

Archive: Last Bill Status - Signed by Governor

Your Voice

Actions

Votes

Jun 16, 2016 - floor Vote

Floor Vote: Jun 16, 2016

Jun 16, 2016 - Rules committee Vote

Rules Committee Vote: Jun 16, 2016

Co-Sponsors

Thomas D. Croci

Sue Serino

S8117 (ACTIVE) - Details

S8117 (ACTIVE) - Summary

S8117 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

S8117 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments