I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5640 

To establish a National Rape Kit Database. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 29, 2010 

Mr. WEINER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish a National Rape Kit Database. 

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 ‘‘National Rape Kit 

5 Database Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL RAPE KIT DATABASE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 

8 date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General 

9 shall establish a public database on information on rape 

10 kits collected by Federal, State, and local law enforcement 

11 agencies. 

12 (b) PARTICIPATION AND REQUIRED INFORMATION.— 


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1 (1) PARTICIPATION.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each database-partici3 pating entity shall, in accordance with the re4 quirements described in subsection (c), include 

5 in the database under subsection (a) all applica6 ble information described in paragraph (2) on 

7 rape kits collected or tested by such entity. 

8 (B) DATABASE-PARTICIPATING ENTITY DE9 FINED.—For purposes of this section, the term 

10 ‘‘database-participating entity’’ means— 

11 (i) a Federal law enforcement agency; 

12 and 

13 (ii) for purposes of establishing com14 pliance under subsection (d)— 

15 (I) a State law enforcement 

16 agency; 

17 (II) a local law enforcement 

18 agency; and 

19 (III) a State or local laboratory 

20 owned by a State or unit of local gov21 ernment. 

22 (2) REQUIRED INFORMATION.—Information de23 scribed in this paragraph, with respect to a rape kit, 

24 includes— 


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1 (A) in the case of a database-participating 

2 entity that is a law enforcement entity— 

3 (i) the date of the action constituting 

4 the basis for the collection of the rape kit; 

5 (ii) the city (or other appropriate geo6 graphic location) where such action oc7 curred; 

8 (iii) the date of the entry into the 

9 database; 

10 (iv) the date evidence contained in the 

11 rape kit was collected; 

12 (v) the entity (including a law enforce13 ment agency, laboratory, or other entity) 

14 that has possession of the rape kit; 

15 (vi) the processing status of the rape 

16 kit; and 

17 (vii) in the case of a backlogged case, 

18 whether the statute of limitations has ex19 pired; and 

20 (B) with respect to a database-partici21 pating entity that is a laboratory, updates on 

22 the processing status of the rape kit. 

23 (c) REQUIRED TERMS FOR INCLUSION OF INFORMA24 TION.—The requirements described in this paragraph, 

25 with respect to information included in the database under 


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1 subsection (a) by a database-participating entity, are the 

2 following: 

3 (1) LIMITATION ON SCOPE OF INFORMATION.— 

4 No personally identifiable information (such as the 

5 name of the victim involved and the address and 

6 other contact information of such victim) shall be in7 cluded in the database. 

8 (2) UNIQUE ID NUMBER AND TIMING FOR IN9 CLUSION OF INFORMATION.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph 

11 (3) and subparagraph (B)— 

12 (i) not later than 72 hours after the 

13 time at which a rape kit is first processed 

14 as evidence— 

15 (I) a unique identification num16 ber shall be assigned to such rape kit; 

17 and 

18 (II) the database-participating 

19 entity in possession of the rape kit 

20 shall include in the database informa21 tion on such rape kit described in sub22 section (b)(2) in a manner that identi23 fies such information by such identi24 fication number; and 


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1 (ii) not later than 72 hours after test2 ing the rape kit, the database-participating 

3 entity conducting such testing shall update 

4 within the database the processing status 

5 of such rape kit. 

6 Any information related to such rape kit that is 

7 included in such database shall be identifiable 

8 within such database by such unique identifica9 tion number. 

10 (B) RAPE KITS COLLECTED BEFORE ES11 TABLISHMENT OF DATABASE.—Subject to para12 graph (3), in the case of a rape kit collected be13 fore the date of establishment of the database, 

14 a database-participating entity shall not be re15 quired to include in such database information 

16 on (or have a unique identification number as17 signed with respect to) such rape kit before 

18 such date that is 1 year after the date of the 

19 enactment of this Act. 

20 (3) RAPE KITS NOT INCLUDED (OR TO FOLLOW

21 A DELAYED INCLUSION) IN REGISTRY.—With respect 

22 to a rape kit collected or tested by a database-par23 ticipating entity, the following shall apply: 

24 (A) In the case that the rape kit relates to 

25 a case that the entity determines to be unVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:00 Jul 01, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5640.IH H5640

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1 founded, or to a case in which the victim with2 draws the victim’s report— 

3 (i) if such determination or with4 drawal occurs— 

5 (I) before the 72-hour deadline 

6 described in paragraph (2)(A)(i) (or 

7 has not otherwise been included in the 

8 database), information on such rape 

9 kit shall not be included in the data10 base; or 

11 (II) after information on such 

12 rape kit has been entered into the 

13 database, such information shall be 

14 identified as inactive; and 

15 (ii) the entity shall include within the 

16 database the total number of such rape 

17 kits that were not so included in the data18 base and identified as inactive. 

19 (B) In the case that the rape kit is col20 lected from a victim who has not made to the 

21 law enforcement agency involved a police report 

22 on the action constituting the basis for the col23 lection of the rape kit, the law enforcement 

24 agency shall not include information on such 

25 rape kit in the database until the date on which 


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1 the victim makes such a report or, if sooner and 

2 allowed under applicable State law, until the 

3 date on which the agency commences an inves4 tigation related to such rape kit without such a 

5 victim report. 

6 (4) METHOD OF INCLUSION OF INFORMA7 TION.—The database-participating entity shall in8 clude information in the database through a secure 

9 Internet Web site. 

10 (d) COMPLIANCE.— 

11 (1) FUNDING UNDER DEBBIE SMITH AND

12 BYRNE GRANT PROGRAMS CONTINGENT ON COMPLI13 ANCE.—For any fiscal year beginning after the date 

14 of the establishment of the database under sub15 section (a), a State or unit of local government shall 

16 not be eligible for Federal funding under section 2 

17 of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 

18 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135) or under subpart 1 of part 

19 E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

20 Streets Act of 1968 unless such State or unit is in 

21 compliance with this section with respect to such fis22 cal year. 

23 (2) DETERMINATION OF COMPLIANCE.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—A State or unit of local 

25 government is in compliance with this section 


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1 with respect to a fiscal year if the State or unit 

2 provides to the Attorney General a certification 

3 described in subparagraph (B) for such fiscal 

4 year. 

5 (B) CERTIFICATION.—A certification de6 scribed in this subparagraph for a fiscal year 

7 is— 

8 (i) in the case of a State, a certifi9 cation that for such fiscal year— 

10 (I) at least 75 percent of the 

11 State law enforcement agencies; 

12 (II) at least 75 percent of the 

13 local law enforcement agencies within 

14 the State; 

15 (III) 100 percent of the State 

16 laboratories owned by the State; and 

17 (IV) 100 percent of the local lab18 oratories owned by units of local gov19 ernment within the State, 

20 included information, in accordance with 

21 this section, in the database under sub22 section (a) for substantially all rape kits 

23 collected or tested by such agency or lab24 oratory; and 


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1 (ii) in the case of a unit of local gov2 ernment, a certification that for such fiscal 

3 year the local law enforcement agency of 

4 the unit and the local laboratory owned by 

5 the unit, as applicable, included informa6 tion, in accordance with this section, in the 

7 database under subsection (a) for substan8 tially all rape kits collected or tested by 

9 such agency or laboratory. 

10 (e) PUBLIC ACCESS.—The database established 

11 under subsection (a) shall be made available to the public 

12 and shall be made available in a manner that allows the 

13 comparison of information and processing of such infor14 mation to generate trends. 

15 (f) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Attorney General 

16 shall provide for— 

17 (1) assistance to database-participating entities 

18 that do not have access to the Internet in order to 

19 enable such entities to participate under this section; 

20 and 

21 (2) a helpdesk and technical assistance for 

22 database-participating entities to participate under 

23 this section. 

24 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

25 authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary 


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1 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2016 to carry out 

2 this section. 

3 (h) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

4 (1) RAPE KIT.—The term ‘‘rape kit’’ means a 

5 sexual assault forensics evidence collection kit. 

6 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means a State 

7 of the United States, the District of Columbia, the 

8 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States 

9 Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the 

10 Northern Mariana Islands. 

11 (i) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

12 (1) CONDITIONING RECEIPT OF DEBBIE SMITH

13 DNA BACKLOG GRANT PROGRAM FUNDS ON PARTICI14 PATION IN NATIONAL RAPE KIT DATABASE.—Section 

15 2(b) of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act 

16 of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135(b)) is amended— 

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

18 the end; 

19 (B) in paragraph (7), by striking the pe20 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’ ; and 

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

22 ‘‘(8) for grants for fiscal years beginning after 

23 the date of the establishment of the database estab24 lished under subsection (a) of section 2 of the Na25 tional Rape Kit Database Act, specify that the State 


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1 or unit of local government is in compliance with 

2 such section, as determined under subsection (d)(2) 

3 of such section.’’. 

4 (2) CONDITIONING RECEIPT OF EDWARD BYRNE

5 MEMORIAL JUSTICE ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM

6 FUNDS ON PARTICIPATION IN NATIONAL RAPE KIT

7 DATABASE.—Section 502 of the Omnibus Crime 

8 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

9 3752) is amended by adding at the end the following 

10 new paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(6) For grants for fiscal years beginning after 

12 the date of the establishment of the database estab13 lished under subsection (a) of section 2 of the Na14 tional Rape Kit Database Act, a certification under 

15 subsection (d)(2) of such section that the State or 

16 unit of local government is in compliance with such 

17 section.’’. 

Æ 


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