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Senate panel advances bill to collect DNA in certain misdemeanor sexual and domestic violence cases
Summary
The Senate Judiciary & Rules Committee voted to send S 1226 to the Senate floor with a do-pass recommendation; the bill would expand DNA-sample collection to include misdemeanor sexual battery and misdemeanor domestic violence to capture earlier offender samples and close identified collection gaps.
The Senate Judiciary & Rules Committee voted Jan. 28 to forward S 1226 to the Senate floor with a do-pass recommendation. Sponsor Senator Melissa Wintrow presented the bill, saying the measure narrows recent proposals to add collection for two misdemeanor offenses—sexual battery and domestic violence—alongside existing felony and registry-based requirements.
Supporters said the change would close gaps in Idaho's DNA collection. Matthew Gamette, director of the Idaho State Police Forensic Services Laboratory System, told the committee that a backlog and past collection failures had left many qualifying samples uncollected; the presentation noted that roughly 30,000 qualifying individuals had not had DNA collected under prior practice. Research witness Dr. Lisa Bostaph summarized a study of 153 incarcerated individuals showing those convicted of sexually based felonies averaged 4.7 prior convictions and non-sexual violent offenders averaged 7.7 prior convictions, with sizable shares having prior misdemeanor sexual or domestic-violence offenses—data the bill’s sponsors said supports earlier collection.
Senator Wintrow described the bill's statutory rewrite as consolidating qualifying offenses under a single definition of "serious crimes," intended to streamline and clarify when DNA must be taken. Committee members questioned retroactivity, and Mark Denhardt of the ISP SAKI team explained felony collection provisions are retroactive only to the beginning of enforcement in 1997 and that gaps often arise when people receive non‑traditional sentences (probation or county jail) rather than state prison where collection is routine.
Committee action: Senator Keyser moved to send S 1226 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation; Senator Foreman seconded and the motion carried by voice vote. The committee did not record a roll-call tally in the minutes.
