In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

January 2, 2013. 

Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 3250) entitled ‘‘An Act to amend the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 to provide for Debbie Smith grants for 

auditing sexual assault evidence backlogs and to establish a 

Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Registry, and for other 

purposes.’’, do pass with the following 

AMENDMENTS: 

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert: 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sexual Assault Forensic 

3 Evidence Reporting Act of 2012’’ or the ‘‘SAFER Act of 

4 2012’’. 

5 SEC. 2. DEBBIE SMITH GRANTS FOR AUDITING SEXUAL AS6 SAULT EVIDENCE BACKLOGS. 

7 Section 2 of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination 

8 Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135) is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 

10 following new paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(6) To conduct an audit consistent with sub12 section (n) of the samples of sexual assault evidence 

13 that are in the possession of the State or unit of local 

14 government and are awaiting testing. 
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1 ‘‘(7) To ensure that the collection and processing 

2 of sexual assault evidence that is awaiting testing is 

3 carried out in an appropriate and timely manner 

4 and in accordance with the advisory guidelines devel5 oped under subsection (o)(1).’’; 

6 (2) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the 

7 following new paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(4) ALLOCATION OF GRANT AWARDS FOR AU9 DITS.—For each of fiscal years 2014 through 2017, 

10 not less than 5 percent, but not more than 7 percent, 

11 of the grant amounts distributed under paragraph (1) 

12 shall, if sufficient applications to justify such 

13 amounts are received by the Attorney General, be 

14 awarded for purposes described in subsection (a)(6), 

15 provided that none of the funds required to be distrib16 uted under this paragraph shall decrease or otherwise 

17 limit the availability of funds required to be awarded 

18 to States or units of local government under para19 graph (3).’’; and 

20 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub21 sections: 

22 ‘‘(n) USE OF FUNDS FOR AUDITING SEXUAL ASSAULT

23 EVIDENCE BACKLOGS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBILITY.—The Attorney General may 

25 award a grant under this section to a State or unit 
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1 of local government for the purpose described in sub2 section (a)(6) only if the State or unit of local govern3 ment— 

4 ‘‘(A) submits a plan for performing the 

5 audit of samples described in such subsection; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(B) includes in such plan a good-faith esti8 mate of the number of such samples. 

9 ‘‘(2) GRANT CONDITIONS.—A State or unit of 

10 local government receiving a grant for the purpose de11 scribed in subsection (a)(6)— 

12 ‘‘(A) may not enter into any contract or 

13 agreement with any non-governmental vendor 

14 laboratory to conduct an audit described in sub15 section (a)(6); and 

16 ‘‘(B) shall— 

17 ‘‘(i) not later than 1 year after receiv18 ing the grant, complete the audit referred to 

19 in paragraph (1)(A) in accordance with the 

20 plan submitted under such paragraph; 

21 ‘‘(ii) not later than 60 days after re22 ceiving possession of a sample of sexual as23 sault evidence that was not in the possession 

24 of the State or unit of local government at 

25 the time of the initiation of an audit under 
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1 paragraph (1)(A), subject to paragraph 

2 (4)(F), include in any required reports 

3 under clause (v), the information listed 

4 under paragraph (4)(B); 

5 ‘‘(iii) for each sample of sexual assault 

6 evidence that is identified as awaiting test7 ing as part of the audit referred to in para8 graph (1)(A)— 

9 ‘‘(I) assign a unique numeric or 

10 alphanumeric identifier to each sample 

11 of sexual assault evidence that is in the 

12 possession of the State or unit of local 

13 government and is awaiting testing; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(II) identify the date or dates 

16 after which the State or unit of local 

17 government would be barred by any 

18 applicable statutes of limitations from 

19 prosecuting a perpetrator of the sexual 

20 assault to which the sample relates; 

21 ‘‘(iv) provide that— 

22 ‘‘(I) the chief law enforcement of23 ficer of the State or unit of local gov24 ernment, respectively, is the individual 

25 responsible for the compliance of the 
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1 State or unit of local government, re2 spectively, with the reporting require3 ments described in clause (v); or 

4 ‘‘(II) the designee of such officer 

5 may fulfill the responsibility described 

6 in subclause (I) so long as such des7 ignee is an employee of the State or 

8 unit of local government, respectively, 

9 and is not an employee of any govern10 mental laboratory or non-governmental 

11 vendor laboratory; and 

12 ‘‘(v) comply with all grantee reporting 

13 requirements described in paragraph (4). 

14 ‘‘(3) EXTENSION OF INITIAL DEADLINE.—The At15 torney General may grant an extension of the dead16 line under paragraph (2)(B)(i) to a State or unit of 

17 local government that demonstrates that more time is 

18 required for compliance with such paragraph. 

19 ‘‘(4) SEXUAL ASSAULT FORENSIC EVIDENCE RE20 PORTS.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For not less than 12 

22 months after the completion of an initial count 

23 of sexual assault evidence that is awaiting test24 ing during an audit referred to in paragraph 

25 (1)(A), a State or unit of local government that 
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1 receives a grant award under subsection (a)(6) 

2 shall, not less than every 60 days, submit a re3 port to the Department of Justice, on a form 

4 prescribed by the Attorney General, which shall 

5 contain the information required under subpara6 graph (B). 

7 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS OF REPORTS.—A report 

8 under this paragraph shall contain the following 

9 information: 

10 ‘‘(i) The name of the State or unit of 

11 local government filing the report. 

12 ‘‘(ii) The period of dates covered by the 

13 report. 

14 ‘‘(iii) The cumulative total number of 

15 samples of sexual assault evidence that, at 

16 the end of the reporting period— 

17 ‘‘(I) are in the possession of the 

18 State or unit of local government at 

19 the reporting period; 

20 ‘‘(II) are awaiting testing; and 

21 ‘‘(III) the State or unit of local 

22 government has determined should un23 dergo DNA or other appropriate foren24 sic analyses. 
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1 ‘‘(iv) The cumulative total number of 

2 samples of sexual assault evidence in the 

3 possession of the State or unit of local gov4 ernment that, at the end of the reporting pe5 riod, the State or unit of local government 

6 has determined should not undergo DNA or 

7 other appropriate forensic analyses, pro8 vided that the reporting form shall allow for 

9 the State or unit of local government, at its 

10 sole discretion, to explain the reasoning for 

11 this determination in some or all cases. 

12 ‘‘(v) The cumulative total number of 

13 samples of sexual assault evidence in a total 

14 under clause (iii) that have been submitted 

15 to a laboratory for DNA or other appro16 priate forensic analyses. 

17 ‘‘(vi) The cumulative total number of 

18 samples of sexual assault evidence identified 

19 by an audit referred to in paragraph (1)(A) 

20 or under paragraph (2)(B)(ii) for which 

21 DNA or other appropriate forensic analysis 

22 has been completed at the end of the report23 ing period. 

24 ‘‘(vii) The total number of samples of 

25 sexual assault evidence identified by the 
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1 State or unit of local government under 

2 paragraph (2)(B)(ii), since the previous re3 porting period. 

4 ‘‘(viii) The cumulative total number of 

5 samples of sexual assault evidence described 

6 under clause (iii) for which the State or 

7 unit of local government will be barred 

8 within 12 months by any applicable statute 

9 of limitations from prosecuting a perpe10 trator of the sexual assault to which the 

11 sample relates. 

12 ‘‘(C) PUBLICATION OF REPORTS.—Not later 

13 than 7 days after the submission of a report 

14 under this paragraph by a State or unit of local 

15 government, the Attorney General shall, subject 

16 to subparagraph (D), publish and disseminate a 

17 facsimile of the full contents of such report on an 

18 appropriate internet website. 

19 ‘‘(D) PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMA20 TION.—The Attorney General shall ensure that 

21 any information published and disseminated as 

22 part of a report under this paragraph, which re23 ports information under this subsection, does not 

24 include personally identifiable information or 
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1 details about a sexual assault that might lead to 

2 the identification of the individuals involved. 

3 ‘‘(E) OPTIONAL REPORTING.—The Attorney 

4 General shall— 

5 ‘‘(i) at the discretion of a State or unit 

6 of local government required to file a report 

7 under subparagraph (A), allow such State 

8 or unit of local government, at their sole 

9 discretion, to submit such reports on a more 

10 frequent basis; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) make available to all States and 

12 units of local government the reporting form 

13 created pursuant to subparagraph (A), 

14 whether or not they are required to submit 

15 such reports, and allow such States or units 

16 of local government, at their sole discretion, 

17 to submit such reports for publication. 

18 ‘‘(F) SAMPLES EXEMPT FROM REPORTING

19 REQUIREMENT.—The reporting requirements de20 scribed in paragraph (2) shall not apply to a 

21 sample of sexual assault evidence that— 

22 ‘‘(i) is not considered criminal evi23 dence (such as a sample collected anony24 mously from a victim who is unwilling to 

25 make a criminal complaint); or 
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1 ‘‘(ii) relates to a sexual assault for 

2 which the prosecution of each perpetrator is 

3 barred by a statute of limitations. 

4 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

5 ‘‘(A) AWAITING TESTING.—The term ‘await6 ing testing’ means, with respect to a sample of 

7 sexual assault evidence, that— 

8 ‘‘(i) the sample has been collected and 

9 is in the possession of a State or unit of 

10 local government; 

11 ‘‘(ii) DNA and other appropriate fo12 rensic analyses have not been performed on 

13 such sample; and 

14 ‘‘(iii) the sample is related to a crimi15 nal case or investigation in which final dis16 position has not yet been reached. 

17 ‘‘(B) FINAL DISPOSITION.—The term ‘final 

18 disposition’ means, with respect to a criminal 

19 case or investigation to which a sample of sexual 

20 assault evidence relates— 

21 ‘‘(i) the conviction or acquittal of all 

22 suspected perpetrators of the crime involved; 

23 ‘‘(ii) a determination by the State or 

24 unit of local government in possession of the 

25 sample that the case is unfounded; or 
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1 ‘‘(iii) a declaration by the victim of the 

2 crime involved that the act constituting the 

3 basis of the crime was not committed. 

4 ‘‘(C) POSSESSION.— 

5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘posses6 sion’, used with respect to possession of a 

7 sample of sexual assault evidence by a State 

8 or unit of local government, includes posses9 sion by an individual who is acting as an 

10 agent of the State or unit of local govern11 ment for the collection of the sample. 

12 ‘‘(ii) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Noth13 ing in clause (i) shall be construed to create 

14 or amend any Federal rights or privileges 

15 for non-governmental vendor laboratories 

16 described in regulations promulgated under 

17 section 210303 of the DNA Identification 

18 Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14131). 

19 ‘‘(o) ESTABLISHMENT OF ADVISORY GUIDELINES, 

20 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, AND DEFINITIONS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) ADVISORY GUIDELINES.—Not later than 18 

22 months after the date of enactment of the SAFER Act 

23 of 2012, the Attorney General, in consultation with 

24 Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies 

25 and government laboratories, shall develop and pub-
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1 lish a report containing advisory guidelines the Attor2 ney General considers appropriate for the accurate, 

3 timely, and effective collection and processing of sex4 ual assault evidence that is awaiting testing, which 

5 shall address appropriate steps in the investigation of 

6 cases that might involve sexual assault evidence that 

7 is awaiting testing, including only— 

8 ‘‘(A) how to determine— 

9 ‘‘(i) which evidence is to be collected by 

10 law enforcement personnel and forwarded 

11 for testing; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) what information to take into ac13 count when establishing the order in which 

14 evidence from different cases is to be tested; 

15 ‘‘(B) the establishment of a reasonable pe16 riod of time in which evidence is to be forwarded 

17 by emergency response providers, law enforce18 ment personnel, and prosecutors to a laboratory 

19 for testing; 

20 ‘‘(C) systems to encourage communication 

21 within a State or unit of local government 

22 among emergency response providers, law en23 forcement personnel, prosecutors, courts, crime 

24 laboratory personnel, and crime victims regard-
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1 ing the status of sexual assault evidence to be 

2 tested; and 

3 ‘‘(D) standards for conducting the audit of 

4 the backlog of sexual assault evidence that is 

5 awaiting testing required under subsection (n). 

6 ‘‘(2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING.— 

7 The Attorney General shall make available technical 

8 assistance and training to support States and units 

9 of local government in adopting and implementing 

10 the guidelines developed under paragraph (1) on and 

11 after the date on which the guidelines are published. 

12 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the terms 

13 ‘awaiting testing’ and ‘possession’ have the meanings 

14 given those terms in subsection (n).’’. 

15 SEC. 3. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 

16 Not later than 90 days after the end of each fiscal year 

17 for which a grant is made for the purpose described in sec18 tion 2(a)(6) of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act 

19 of 2000, as amended by section 2, the Attorney General shall 

20 submit to Congress a report that— 

21 (1) lists the States and units of local government 

22 that have been awarded such grants and the amount 

23 of the grant received by each such State or unit of 

24 local government; 
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1 (2) states the number of extensions granted by 

2 the Attorney General under section 2(n)(3) of the 

3 DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000, as 

4 added by section 2; and 

5 (3) summarizes the processing status of the sam6 ples of sexual assault evidence identified in Sexual 

7 Assault Forensic Evidence Reports established under 

8 section 2(o)(4) of the DNA Analysis Backlog Act of 

9 2000, including the number of samples that have not 

10 been tested. 

11 SEC. 4. REDUCING THE RAPE KIT BACKLOG. 

12 Section 2(c)(3) of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimi13 nation Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135(c)(3)) is amended— 

14 (a) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘2014’’ and in15 serting ‘‘2018’’; and 

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

17 ‘‘(3) For each of fiscal years 2014 through 2018, 

18 not less than 75 percent of the total grant amounts 

19 shall be awarded for a combination of purposes under 

20 paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (a).’’. 

21 SEC. 5. OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY. 

22 All grants awarded by the Department of Justice that 

23 are authorized under this Act shall be subject to the fol24 lowing: 
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1 (1) AUDIT REQUIREMENT.—Beginning in fiscal 

2 year 2013, and each fiscal year thereafter, the Inspec3 tor General of the Department of Justice shall conduct 

4 audits of recipients of grants under this Act to pre5 vent waste, fraud, and abuse of funds by grantees. 

6 The Inspector General shall determine the appro7 priate number of grantees to be audited each year. 

8 (2) MANDATORY EXCLUSION.—A recipient of 

9 grant funds under this Act that is found to have an 

10 unresolved audit finding shall not be eligible to re11 ceive grant funds under this Act during the 2 fiscal 

12 years beginning after the 12-month period described 

13 in paragraph (5). 

14 (3) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 

15 Act, the Attorney General shall give priority to eligi16 ble entities that, during the 3 fiscal years before sub17 mitting an application for a grant under this Act, 

18 did not have an unresolved audit finding showing a 

19 violation in the terms or conditions of a Department 

20 of Justice grant program. 

21 (4) REIMBURSEMENT.—If an entity is awarded 

22 grant funds under this Act during the 2-fiscal-year 

23 period in which the entity is barred from receiving 

24 grants under paragraph (2), the Attorney General 

25 shall— 
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1 (A) deposit an amount equal to the grant 

2 funds that were improperly awarded to the 

3 grantee into the General Fund of the Treasury; 

4 and 

5 (B) seek to recoup the costs of the repay6 ment to the fund from the grant recipient that 

7 was erroneously awarded grant funds. 

8 (5) DEFINED TERM.—In this section, the term 

9 ‘‘unresolved audit finding’’ means an audit report 

10 finding in the final audit report of the Inspector Gen11 eral of the Department of Justice that the grantee has 

12 utilized grant funds for an unauthorized expenditure 

13 or otherwise unallowable cost that is not closed or re14 solved within a 12-month period beginning on the 

15 date when the final audit report is issued. 

16 (6) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION REQUIRE17 MENTS.— 

18 (A) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this sec19 tion and the grant programs described in this 

20 Act, the term ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an 

21 organization that is described in section 

22 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

23 and is exempt from taxation under section 

24 501(a) of such Code. 
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1 (B) PROHIBITION.—The Attorney General 

2 shall not award a grant under any grant pro3 gram described in this Act to a nonprofit organi4 zation that holds money in offshore accounts for 

5 the purpose of avoiding paying the tax described 

6 in section 511(a) of the Internal Revenue Code 

7 of 1986. 

8 (C) DISCLOSURE.—Each nonprofit organi9 zation that is awarded a grant under a grant 

10 program described in this Act and uses the pro11 cedures prescribed in regulations to create a re12 buttable presumption of reasonableness for the 

13 compensation of its officers, directors, trustees 

14 and key employees, shall disclose to the Attorney 

15 General, in the application for the grant, the 

16 process for determining such compensation, in17 cluding the independent persons involved in re18 viewing and approving such compensation, the 

19 comparability data used, and contemporaneous 

20 substantiation of the deliberation and decision. 

21 Upon request, the Attorney General shall make 

22 the information disclosed under this subsection 

23 available for public inspection. 

24 (7) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Unless other25 wise explicitly provided in authorizing legislation, 
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1 not more than 7.5 percent of the amounts authorized 

2 to be appropriated under this Act may be used by the 

3 Attorney General for salaries and administrative ex4 penses of the Department of Justice. 

5 (8) CONFERENCE EXPENDITURES.— 

6 (A) LIMITATION.—No amounts authorized 

7 to be appropriated to the Department of Justice 

8 under this Act may be used by the Attorney Gen9 eral or by any individual or organization 

10 awarded discretionary funds through a coopera11 tive agreement under this Act, to host or support 

12 any expenditure for conferences that uses more 

13 than $20,000 in Department funds, unless the 

14 Deputy Attorney General or the appropriate As15 sistant Attorney General, Director, or principal 

16 deputy as the Deputy Attorney General may des17 ignate, provides prior written authorization that 

18 the funds may be expended to host a conference. 

19 (B) WRITTEN APPROVAL.—Written ap20 proval under subparagraph (A) shall include a 

21 written estimate of all costs associated with the 

22 conference, including the cost of all food and bev23 erages, audio/visual equipment, honoraria for 

24 speakers, and any entertainment. 
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1 (C) REPORT.—The Deputy Attorney Gen2 eral shall submit an annual report to the Com3 mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the 

4 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep5 resentatives on all conference expenditures ap6 proved by operation of this paragraph. 

7 (9) PROHIBITION ON LOBBYING ACTIVITY.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—Amounts authorized to 

9 be appropriated under this Act may not be uti10 lized by any grant recipient to— 

11 (i) lobby any representative of the De12 partment of Justice regarding the award of 

13 grant funding; or 

14 (ii) lobby any representative of a Fed15 eral, State, local, or tribal government re16 garding the award of grant funding. 

17 (B) PENALTY.—If the Attorney General de18 termines that any recipient of a grant under this 

19 Act has violated subparagraph (A), the Attorney 

20 General shall— 

21 (i) require the grant recipient to repay 

22 the grant in full; and 

23 (ii) prohibit the grant recipient from 

24 receiving another grant under this Act for 

25 not less than 5 years. 
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1 SEC. 6. SUNSET. 

2 Effective on December 31, 2018, subsections (a)(6) and 

3 (n) of section 2 of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination 

4 Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135(a)(6) and (n)) are repealed. 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘An Act to amend the 

DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 to provide for Debbie Smith grants for auditing sexual assault 

evidence backlogs, and for other purposes.’’. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3250 

AMENDMENTS