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Union Calendar No. 206 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5721 

[Report No. 118–256] 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 

require certain reporting on sexual assault kit testing. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 

Ms. MACE (for herself, Ms. LEE of California, Mrs. CHAVEZ-DEREMER, Ms. 

ADAMS, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. SALINAS, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. 

BALINT, Mr. VAN DREW, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Ms. LEE

of Florida, Mr. DONALDS, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. MOYLAN, Mrs. LESKO, 

Ms. LEE of Nevada, Mr. JACKSON of North Carolina, Mr. SMITH of New 

Jersey, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. ZINKE, 

Ms. VAN DUYNE, and Ms. ROSS) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

OCTOBER 26, 2023 

Additional sponsors: Mr. HUNT, Mr. TIMMONS, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mrs. 

GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N, Mr. SABLAN, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. 

BILIRAKIS, Ms. CROCKETT, Ms. TITUS, Mr. CRENSHAW, Ms. SALAZAR, 

Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. SANTOS, and Mr. KEAN of New Jersey 

OCTOBER 26, 2023 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on September 26, 2023] 


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A BILL 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

Act of 1968 to require certain reporting on sexual assault kit testing. 


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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 ‘‘Rape Kit Backlog 

5 Progress Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) A sexual assault kit includes a sexual assault 

9 forensic exam, meaning an examination provided to 

10 a sexual assault patient by a health care provider 

11 who has specialized education and clinical experience 

12 in the collection of forensic evidence and treatment of 

13 these patients, which includes— 

14 (A) gathering information from the patient 

15 for the medical forensic history; 

16 (B) an examination; 

17 (C) coordinating treatment of injuries, doc18 umentation of biological and physical findings, 

19 and collection of evidence from the patient; 

20 (D) documentation of findings; 

21 (E) providing information, treatment, and 

22 referrals for sexually transmitted infections, 

23 pregnancy, suicidal ideation, alcohol and sub24 stance abuse, and other non-acute medical con25 cerns; and 


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1 (F) providing follow-up as needed to pro2 vide additional healing, treatment, or collection 

3 of evidence. 

4 (2) A sexual assault kit is an important forensic 

5 tool used by law enforcement and prosecutors to inves6 tigate and prosecute sexual assault and other crimes. 

7 (3) It is estimated that there are currently well 

8 over 100,000 untested sexual assault kits in America, 

9 but the exact number is not known. 

10 (4) Untested sexual assault kits means that there 

11 are sexual assaults unprosecuted, sexual assaults oc12 curring that could have been prevented, and a delay 

13 in uploading DNA to Combined DNA Index System 

14 (commonly known as ‘‘CODIS’’) that can assist law 

15 enforcement in solving other violent crimes. 

16 SEC. 3. REPORT TO ATTORNEY GENERAL REQUIRED ON 

17 SEXUAL ASSAULT KIT TESTING. 

18 Section 502 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

19 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10153) is amended— 

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

21 following: 

22 ‘‘(7) A report indicating whether— 

23 ‘‘(A) the State or unit of local government 

24 has conducted a comprehensive sexual assault kit 

25 inventory, commonly known as a ‘backlog invenVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Oct 27, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5721.RH H5721

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1 tory’, to identify the physical location, untested 

2 or tested status (or full sexual assault kit status, 

3 if available), and any individual test kit identi4 fication or tracking information of each sexual 

5 assault kit in the possession of such State or unit 

6 of local government, or that has been otherwise 

7 transmitted by a State or unit of local govern8 ment to a third-party, such as for testing, stor9 ing, processing, or handling; 

10 ‘‘(B) with respect to each sexual assault kit 

11 that the victim has consented to have collected, 

12 the State or unit of local government has sub13 mitted each such sexual assault kit to a labora14 tory for DNA analysis; 

15 ‘‘(C) results of any such DNA analysis were 

16 uploaded to the Combined DNA Index System; 

17 ‘‘(D) the State or unit of local government 

18 has established an electronic tracking system for 

19 a victim to identify the physical location of their 

20 sexual assault kit and the results of any DNA 

21 analysis that was performed; 

22 ‘‘(E) the State or unit of local government 

23 has established a victim notification protocol for 

24 informing a victim of the status of their sexual 


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1 assault kit, including where their sexual assault 

2 kit was analyzed; 

3 ‘‘(F) the State or unit of local government 

4 has in place a comprehensive sexual assault kit 

5 inventory system to identify sexual assault kit 

6 status, physical location, and any test kit identi7 fication or tracking information of each sexual 

8 assault kit in the possession of such State or unit 

9 of local government, or otherwise transmitted by 

10 a State or unit of local government to a third11 party, such as for testing, storing, processing, or 

12 handling; and 

13 ‘‘(G) the information in any comprehensive 

14 sexual assault kit inventory system described in 

15 subparagraph (F) is updated, and how and when 

16 it is updated.’’; and 

17 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(c) DETERMINATION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.— Be19 tween the receipt of a grant application and deciding on 

20 such application, the Attorney General shall determine— 

21 ‘‘(1) if the State or unit of local government has 

22 completed the conduct described under subsection 

23 (a)(7); and 

24 ‘‘(2) if such conduct has not been completed, the 

25 reason that it has not been completed. 


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1 ‘‘(d) ELIGIBILITY.—A State or unit or local govern2 ment shall only be eligible for a grant under this subpart 

3 if the Attorney General determines such State or unit of 

4 local government has completed the conduct described under 

5 subsection (a)(7). 

6 ‘‘(e) REQUIREMENT FOR GRANT RECIPIENTS.—A 

7 State or unit of local government that has been awarded 

8 a grant under this subpart as of the date of the enactment 

9 of the ‘Rape Kit Backlog Progress Act of 2023’ shall have 

10 one calendar year from such date of enactment to complete 

11 the conduct described in subsection (a)(7) or such State or 

12 unit of local government shall become ineligible for a grant 

13 under this subpart. 

14 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 ‘‘(1) SEXUAL ASSAULT KIT.—The term ‘sexual 

16 assault kit’ means evidence gathered by a medical 

17 professional from a victim following a sexual assault, 

18 which evidence may— 

19 ‘‘(A) include swabs, test tubes, microscopic 

20 slides, and evidence collection envelopes, for hairs 

21 and fibers; and 

22 ‘‘(B) vary in accordance with the cir23 cumstances of the sexual assault and with any 

24 applicable rules or procedures of the jurisdiction. 


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1 ‘‘(2) SEXUAL ASSAULT KIT STATUS.—The term 

2 ‘sexual assault kit status’ means whether an indi3 vidual sexual assault kit is— 

4 ‘‘(A) collected and untested; 

5 ‘‘(B) collected and tested; 

6 ‘‘(C) lost or missing, expired or spoiled; or 

7 ‘‘(D) tested and results reported to the vic8 tim, proper authorities, and the Combined DNA 

9 Index System.’’. 

10 SEC. 4. ATTORNEY GENERAL PUBLIC REPORT ON RAPE KIT 

11 BACKLOGS. 

12 Subpart 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime 

13 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151 et 

14 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 510. ATTORNEY GENERAL PUBLIC REPORT ON RAPE 

16 KIT BACKLOGS. 

17 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than two 

18 years after the date of the enactment of the ‘Rape Kit Back19 log Progress Act of 2023’, and annually thereafter, the At20 torney General shall make publicly available on the internet 

21 website of the Department of Justice a report, including— 

22 ‘‘(1) each report on the conduct described under 

23 section 502(a)(7) received from an applicant for a 

24 grant under this subpart; 


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1 ‘‘(2) an aggregate analysis of the reports de2 scribed under paragraph (1); 

3 ‘‘(3) if an applicant for a grant under this sub4 part has been awarded a grant; and 

5 ‘‘(4) if an applicant for a grant under this sub6 part completed the conduct described under section 

7 502(a)(7) and if it has not completed the conduct de8 scribed under such subsection, the reason that the con9 duct has not been completed. 

10 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION ON PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE IN11 FORMATION.—Any information published by the Attorney 

12 General pursuant to this section may not contain the per13 sonally identifiable information of a victim and if such in14 formation was erroneously published, it shall be removed 

15 from the website of the Department of Justice immediately 

16 upon discovery.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 206 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5721 

[Report No. 118–256] 

A BILL 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

on sexual assault kit testing. Streets Act of 1968 to require certain reporting 

OCTOBER 26, 2023 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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