During its second year, Joyful Heart’s national campaign to pass comprehensive rape kit reform continued to build momentum. Since January, an exceptional 46 rape kit reform bills were introduced in 24 states. We worked with partners in 11 states and helped lawmakers amend several drafts of legislation. As a result, we celebrate 15 states passing 14 rape kit reform laws that include one or more of our six pillars. There is one bill in New York awaiting the governor’s signature and three bills pending in California and New Jersey.

We are proud of the impact we are making. This year Hawai’i became the second state in the country to achieve our gold standard for reform, having embraced all six pillars, in a new law signed by Governor David Ige earlier this month. Connecticut, Massachusetts, Oregon, and New York each met five pillars.

Here’s an update on our work around the country this year. 

14 New Laws in 15 States

• Alaska S.B. 142. The Alaska capital budget bill allocates $2.75 million to test every rape kit in Alaska. This is the state’s most significant investment in eliminating the backlog to date. 
• Alaska H.B. 31. Under this law, Alaska is required to conduct annual inventories, helping the state monitor progress on testing 3,484 untested kits identified through a one-time inventory in 2017. 
• Connecticut Public Act No. 18-83. This law establishes a statewide rape kit tracking system and ensures sexual assault survivors can access information about the testing status of their rape kit. 
• Hawai‘i H.B. 2131. This law grants essential rights to sexual assault survivors, directs all counties to track rape kits, requires kits to be submitted to the lab and tested, and establishes annual reporting mechanisms to increase accountability and transparency in rape kit handling processes. 
• Indiana Act No. 264. Indiana will study the feasibility of a statewide rape kit tracking system under this new law.
• Louisiana Act No. 354. With this law, the state created the Louisiana Sexual Assault Oversight Commission to recommend a standardized kit as well as statewide protocols for forensic medical examinations. The attorney general must make sure the recommendations are implemented. 
• Maryland Chapter 429. This law requires the Maryland Sexual Assault Evidence Kit (SAEK) Policy and Funding Committee to make recommendations on a statewide rape kit tracking system accessible to victims of sexual assault. The law also requires the committee to apply for federal funds to advance rape kit reforms.
• Massachusetts Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2018. This is a comprehensive law mandating an annual inventory of rape kits, the timely testing of newly collected rape kits, and the testing of backlogged kits. The new law also establishes a statewide tracking system and grants victims the right to know the testing status of their rape kits.
• Minnesota S.F. No. 2863. This law grants victims the right to notification about their rape kit testing status, increases evidence retention protections, and strengthens requirements for submitting rape kits.
• Missouri H.B. No. 1355. Under this law, law enforcement must retrieve rape kits from hospitals within 14 days and submit it to a lab for testing within 14 days of taking possession of the kit. Additionally, a rape kit tracking system will be created to follow kits from collection to disposition and allow survivors to monitor the status of their kit.
• New Hampshire S.B. 391. Under this bill, survivors would be informed of policies for kit collection and preservation upon written request, receive notice within 60 days of the kit’s planned disposal, and be able to expand the kit preservation period.
• New York S7507C. The state health and mental hygiene budget expands the retention period for an unreported kit to 20 years and calls for victims to be notified in advance of planned kit destruction. The budget also requires the creation of a rape kit tracking system.
• North Carolina H.B. 945. This legislation would require the creation of a rape kit tracking system to track the 15,160 untested rape kits identified in a statewide inventory earlier this year. All newly collected kits would be tracked as well, and the bill would also allow survivors to monitor the location and testing status of their kit.
• Oregon Chapter 55, (2018 Laws). This law requires the creation and implementation of a statewide tracking system. The system must track kits through the criminal justice process, and provide sexual assault survivors anonymous access to track the status of their kit.
• West Virginia Chapter 207, Acts, Regular Session, 2018. Under this law, the Sexual Assault Forensic Commission will establish best practice protocols for handling rape kits, including time frames for submission and storage.

One Bill Awaiting the Governor’s Signature 

• New York S.8977. This bill would establish a sexual assault victim bill of rights which would include the right, upon request, to be informed of the date and location at which the kit was analyzed, be informed whether there was a DNA match in the national database, and be notified at least 90 days before the end of the 20-year storage period.

Three Bills are Pending in Two States

• California S.B. 1449. Currently, state law does not require law enforcement to submit rape kits to crime labs for DNA testing—it merely encourages it. This bill would require law enforcement to submit kits within 20 days after being booked into evidence and require crime labs to test the kit within 120 days. This bill has passed the Senate and is pending in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
• California A.B. 3118. California has never conducted an inventory of the untested rape kits. This bill would require all law enforcement agencies, hospitals, and crime labs to count their kits and submit a report to the California Department of Justice by 2019. This bill has passed the Assembly and is pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
• New Jersey S.1216. Under this bill, the attorney general would develop a survey on unsubmitted kits in the possession of law enforcement agencies. The survey would be completed by every law enforcement agency in the state. Joyful Heart advocates for the the survey to capture the number of untested kits and the reasons for not testing kits. This bill passed the Senate and is pending in the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee.

Since January 2018, 28,563 untested kits have been uncovered from California to North Carolina. We are working with advocates, survivors, local advocates, and legislators around the country to eliminate this backlog and make sure it never happens again.

As our founder, Mariska Hargitay, always says: “The backlog is one of the clearest and most shocking demonstrations of how we regard these crimes in our society. Testing rape kits sends a fundamental and crucial message to victims of sexual violence: You matter. What happened to you matters. Your case matters.”

You help us send survivors the message that they matter. Learn more and join our campaign to end the backlog.