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Public testimony supports House Bill 62 to codify sexual-assault kit tracking and survivor rights
Summary
Two witnesses, a state laboratory official and a youth-services director, urged the House Judiciary Committee to advance House Bill 62, which would establish or amend timelines, codify an assault-kit tracking system and expand survivor rights and transparency.
The House Judiciary Committee on March 12, 2025, heard public testimony in favor of House Bill 62, legislation that would establish or amend timelines for handling sexual-assault evidence, codify an assault-kit tracking system into law and expand survivor rights and transparency. The committee closed public testimony on the bill after two online witnesses spoke in support.
David Canaris, introduced on the record as an official with the Department of Public Safety and identified as the chief of the Anchorage laboratory, told the committee HB 62 “establishes timelines where they currently don't exist and amends timelines where they do exist,” codifies the state’s assault-kit tracking system and “provides additional survivor rights and transparency.” Canaris asked the committee to consider moving the bill forward.
Isaac Smolden, communications director at My House, a drop-in center that serves homeless and at-risk youth, said survivors of sexual assault are among the clients his organization serves and that his organization supports the bill’s provisions for survivors. Both witnesses urged the committee to advance HB 62 to the finance and support stages for further consideration.
Committee members took no immediate vote on the bill at the hearing. Chair Gray later set an amendment deadline for HB 62 of Friday, March 14 at 5 p.m., and asked members to work with committee aide Nate Graham on amendments.
