Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Victim Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Subcommittee approves bill to extend retention of unreported sexual‑assault kits to 30 years
Summary
Lawmakers approved a subcommittee amendment and voted to advance HB 626, which would extend the retention period for sexual‑assault evidence kits that were not immediately reported to law enforcement from 12 months to 30 years; advocates and a survivor urged the change to preserve DNA evidence.
A House judiciary noncivil subcommittee voted to advance HB 626 (LC570261S), a bill that would lengthen how long sexual‑assault evidence kits that are not immediately reported to police are kept by law enforcement.
The sponsor explained the change arose from cases in which delayed reporting or lost kits undermined prosecutions and sentencing. "Right now, those kits can be trashed after 12 months. We need to move that 12 months is not a long enough time," the presenter said, noting fiscal‑year data on the number of unreported kits taken across the state.
Survivor Stephanie Colquitt Sherman — whose case was cited as an example of the consequences of lost evidence — and advocate Gail Gardner described why longer retention matters. The presenter said Georgia already has strong kit‑tracking systems and that keeping unreported kits for longer would not require special storage conditions.
Committee members asked technical drafting questions about how law enforcement obtains kits that were collected at medical centers but not immediately reported; counsel and staff said existing hospital and evidence‑transfer processes would be referenced in drafting. The subcommittee voted to change the bill's effective year from 2025 to 2026 and approved the measure to move forward.
What happens next: HB 626 was reported favorably from the subcommittee as amended and will proceed to the full committee.
