II 

Calendar No. 80 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 820 

To strengthen programs authorized under the Debbie Smith Act of 2004. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 14, 2019 

Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, 

Ms. ERNST, Ms. MCSALLY, Mr. BURR, Mr. LEAHY, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, 

Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. HAWLEY, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. GRASSLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

MAY 9, 2019 

Reported by Mr. GRAHAM, with amendments 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To strengthen programs authorized under the Debbie Smith 

Act of 2004. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Debbie Smith Act of 

5 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DNA BACKLOG GRANT PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT. 

2 Section 2 of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination 

3 Act of 2000 (34 U.S.C. 40701) is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (a)— 

5 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘includ6 ing’’ and inserting ‘‘prioritizing, to the extent 

7 practicable consistent with public safety consid8 erations’’; and 

9 (B) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘includ10 ing’’ and inserting ‘‘in particular,’’; 

11 (2) in subsection (b)— 

12 (A) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

13 the end; 

14 (B) in paragraph (7), by striking the pe15 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

16 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(8) provide assurances that the DNA section 

18 of the laboratory to be used to conduct DNA anal19 yses has a written policy that prioritizes the analysis 

20 of, to the extent practicable consistent with public 

21 safety considerations, samples from homicides and 

22 sexual assaults.’’; 

23 (3) in subsection (c)(3)— 

24 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

25 ‘‘2014 through 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘2019 

26 through 2024’’; and 


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1 (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

2 ‘‘2014 through 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘2019 

3 through 2024’’; 

4 (4) in subsection (g)— 

5 (A) by redesignating paragraph (1), (2), 

6 and (3) as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), 

7 and adjusting the margins accordingly; 

8 (B) by striking ‘‘Not later’’ and inserting 

9 the following: 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later’’; and 

11 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(2) IMPLEMENTATION OF PROGRAM IMPROVE13 MENTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of en14 actment of the Debbie Smith Act of 2019— 

15 ‘‘(A) the Director of the National Institute 

16 of Justice shall— 

17 ‘‘(i) define DNA Capacity Enhance18 ment and Backlog Reduction program-wide 

19 goals in clear, specific, and measurable 

20 terms; 

21 ‘‘(ii) consistently document the goals 

22 defined under clause (i); and 

23 ‘‘(iii) use performance measures for 

24 each goal defined under clause (i) that fully 

25 reflect the appropriate attributes of successVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:33 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S820.RS S820

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1 ful performance measures according to rec2 ommendations made by the Government Ac3 countability Office in the report entitled, 

4 ‘DNA Evidence: DOJ Should Improve Per5 formance Measurement and Properly De6 sign controls for Nationwide Grant Pro7 gram’ (GAO-19-216); and 

8 ‘‘(B) the Assistant Attorney General for the 

9 Office of Justice Programs shall fully establish 

10 all appropriate controls relating to conflicts of 

11 interest and to lobbying as reported by the Gov12 ernment Accountability Office in the report enti13 tled, ‘DNA Evidence: DOJ Should Improve Per14 formance Measurement and Properly Design con15 trols for Nationwide Grant Program’ (GAO-19- 

16 216). 

17 ‘‘(2)(3) REPORT ON EFFECTIVENESS OF GRANT

18 PROGRAM.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

19 on which the Comptroller General of the United 

20 States issues the 2018 report on the DNA Capacity 

21 Enhancement and Backlog Reduction Grant Pro22 gram, or 180 days after the date of enactment of 

23 the Debbie Smith Act of 2019, whichever date is 

24 later, the Attorney General shall submit a report to 

25 the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and 


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1 the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 

2 Representatives that— 

3 ‘‘(A) describes any action taken by the De4 partment of Justice since the release of the 

5 2018 report on the DNA Capacity Enhance6 ment and Backlog Reduction Grant Program to 

7 improve the DNA Capacity Enhancement and 

8 Backlog Reduction Grant Program based on 

9 the recommendations of the Comptroller Gen10 eral; and 

11 ‘‘(B) includes recommendations for re12 forms that could enhance the effectiveness of 

13 the program in reducing the backlog of 

14 unanalyzed DNA evidence in sexual assault 

15 cases. 

16 ‘‘(3) GAO REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

17 after the end of the third fiscal year beginning after 

18 the date of enactment of this Act, and once every 3 

19 fiscal years thereafter, the Comptroller General of 

20 the United States shall issue a report on the DNA 

21 Capacity Enhancement and Backlog Reduction 

22 Grant Program describing, by year— 

23 ‘‘(A) the total number of new DNA re24 quests; 


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1 ‘‘(B) the total number of cases, items, and 

2 offender and arrestee samples analyzed; 

3 ‘‘(C) the total number of DNA profiles 

4 uploaded to the national DNA index; 

5 ‘‘(D) the total number of matches and in6 vestigations aided by matches made by the na7 tional DNA index; 

8 ‘‘(E) changes in total laboratory capacity 

9 to conduct DNA analyses as described in sub10 section (a)(3); 

11 ‘‘(F) the number of open DNA cases at 

12 the end of each year and open DNA cases older 

13 than 30 days at the end of the year; 

14 ‘‘(G) the number of sexual assault cases 

15 submitted to the laboratory during the year and 

16 the number of untested sexual assault cases 

17 older than 30 days at the end of the year; 

18 ‘‘(H) whether the National Institute of 

19 Justice has defined DNA Capacity Enhance20 ment and Backlog Reduction program-wide 

21 goals in clear, specific, and measurable terms; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(I) whether the Office of Justice Pro24 grams has fully established all appropriate con25 trols related to lobbying.’’; and 


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1 ‘‘(4) GAO REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

2 after the end of the third fiscal year beginning after 

3 the date of enactment of the Debbie Smith Act of 

4 2019, and once every 3 fiscal years thereafter through 

5 fiscal year 2025, the Comptroller General of the 

6 United States shall issue a report on the DNA anal7 ysis workloads at laboratories that participate in the 

8 Combined DNA Index System using data available 

9 from the DNA Capacity Enhancement and Backlog 

10 Reduction Grant Program or other sources that— 

11 ‘‘(A) describes, by year— 

12 ‘‘(i) the total number of new crime 

13 scene DNA analysis requests submitted to 

14 laboratories; 

15 ‘‘(ii) the total number of crime scene 

16 DNA analysis requests analyzed including, 

17 to the extent practicable and reported sepa18 rately— 

19 ‘‘(I) the number analyzed at lab20 oratories participating in Combined 

21 DNA Index System; and 

22 ‘‘(II) the number of requests 

23 outsourced and analyzed at private 

24 laboratories; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) the total number of DNA profiles 

2 from crime scene evidence uploaded to the 

3 Combined DNA Index System; 

4 ‘‘(iv) the total number of Combined 

5 DNA Index System hits and investigations 

6 aided resulting from DNA profiles recovered 

7 from crime scene evidence; 

8 ‘‘(v) the number of outstanding crime 

9 scene DNA analysis requests at the end of 

10 each year and the number of such out11 standing requests that are older than 30 

12 days at the end of the year; and 

13 ‘‘(vi) to the extent practicable, the 

14 number of requests associated with sexual 

15 assault cases submitted to laboratories dur16 ing the year and the number of such re17 quests that are older than 30 days at the 

18 end of the year; and 

19 ‘‘(B) includes a determination as to— 

20 ‘‘(i) whether the National Institute of 

21 Justice has defined DNA Capacity En22 hancement and Backlog Reduction pro23 gram-wide goals as required under para24 graph (2)(A); and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) whether the Office of Justice Pro2 grams has fully established all appropriate 

3 controls relating to conflicts of interest and 

4 to lobbying as required under paragraph 

5 (2)(B).’’; and 

6 (5) in subsection (j), by striking ‘‘2015 through 

7 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘2019 through 2024’’. 

8 SEC. 3. TRAINING AND EDUCATION. 

9 Section 303(b) of the DNA Sexual Assault Justice 

10 Act of 2004 (34 U.S.C. 40722(b)) is amended by striking 

11 ‘‘2015 through 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘2019 through 

12 2024’’. 

13 SEC. 4. SEXUAL ASSAULT FORENSIC EXAM GRANTS. 

14 Section 304(d) of the DNA Sexual Assault Justice 

15 Act of 2004 (34 U.S.C. 40723(d)) is amended by striking 

16 ‘‘2015 through 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘2019 through 

17 2024’’. 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
Calendar No. 80 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 820 

A BILL 

To strengthen programs authorized under the 

Debbie Smith Act of 2004. 

MAY 9, 2019 

Reported with amendments 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS