Attorney generaloffice seeks correctional officersauthority to collect DNA samples

The House Judiciary Committee opened and closed a hearing on House Bill 1044, which would amend North Dakota Century Code section 31-13-4 to permit correctional officers to collect DNA samples for the state and national databases.

Jennifer Penner, crime laboratory director with the Attorney General's Office, said the request would add "a provision to allow for a correctional officer to collect samples of DNA for inclusion in the state and national DNA database." She told the committee most DNA samples the laboratory receives are collected at correctional facilities during booking, and naming correctional officers as qualified collectors would simplify the process.

Penner said the change would not alter testing policy or increase the number of samples collected; it would only expand who may collect a lawfully owed sample at the time of booking. She described existing safeguards: kits the crime lab supplies include written instructions and personal protective equipment, and agencies train collectors locally; the crime lab provides training on request. Penner confirmed the bill applies to saliva cheek-swab samples, not blood.

Committee members asked about the meaning of "certified" correctional officers; Penner said facility captains indicated the certification process relates to post-hire training and that the staff recommendation was to use the broader term "correctional officer" for clarity.

Penner also told the committee there is a backlog of approximately 500 samples waiting to be entered into the database and explained the laboratory's process: tested profiles are uploaded into the state database and then to the national database where they are compared to unsolved forensic profiles and searched against other states.

The committee closed the hearing and received the agency's corrected amendment language; no committee vote was recorded.