Reunion Online

A bill requiring law enforcement agencies and laboratories to promptly analyze all newly collected rape kit evidence advanced to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk Friday.

The state Senate and Assembly unanimously approved SB 1449 authored by Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, according to a press release provided by Leyva’s office.

Under the legislation, newly collected rape kits would have to be sent to a lab within 20 days and tested no later than 120 days after receipt in order to prevent backlogs of forensic evidence.

In late April, at the height of her successful campaign for district attorney, interim DA Summer Stephan announced she would spend $1 million to test 1,000 rape kits.

By the end of August, only 200 kits will have been tested by Bode Cellmark Forensics, a private lab in Virginia, said a spokesman for LabCorp, Bode’s corporate parent.

Through public records requests, End the Backlog estimates that more than 13,000 kits are sitting untested on the shelves of California law enforcement—but it still won’t have a complete number unless jurisdictions are mandated to have them.

California legislators this week set aside partisanship to move toward reducing the state’s backlog of untested rape kits, with both houses passing separate bills targeting the problem.

While California may have a reputation for progressive policies and a history of tough-on-crime laws, Los Angeles and L.A. County at one point had 12,000 untested rape kits, which law enforcement only caught up on in 2011.

Pressure is building for California lawmakers to end the backlog of untested rape kits, following the arrest this week of the suspected East Area Rapist.

Law enforcement officials said a major break leading to the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo was made possible, in large part, by DNA evidence tied to old crimes carried out by the suspected rapist and killer.