I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3087
To provide assistance to State and local forensic laboratories in analyzing
DNA samples from convicted offenders, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 14, 1999
Mr. WEINER (for himself, Mr. FORBES, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. WALSH, Mr.
SWEENEY, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mrs. LOWEY, and Mr. NAD-
LER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary
A BILL
To provide assistance to State and local forensic laboratories
in analyzing DNA samples from convicted offenders, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DNA Backlog Elimi-
nation Act’’.
SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF CONVICTED OFFENDER DNA
BACKLOG.
(a) DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 45 days after
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in coordina-
tion with the Assistant Attorney General of the Of-
fice of Justice Programs of the Department of Jus-
tice, and after consultation with representatives of
State and local forensic laboratories, shall develop a
voluntary plan to assist State and local forensic lab-
oratories in performing DNA analyses of DNA sam-
ples collected from convicted offenders and in ana-
lyzing all casework evidence for unsolved crimes.
(2) OBJECTIVE.—The objective of the plan de-
veloped under paragraph (1) shall be to effectively
eliminate the backlog of convicted offender DNA
samples awaiting analysis in State or local forensic
laboratory storage, including samples that need to be
reanalyzed using upgraded methods, and to analyze
all casework evidence for unsolved crimes in an effi-
cient, expeditious manner that will provide for their
entry into the Combined DNA Indexing System
(CODIS).
(b) PLAN CONDITIONS.—The plan developed under
subsection (a) shall—
(1) require that each laboratory performing
DNA analyses satisfy quality assurance standards
and utilize state-of-the-art testing methods, as set
forth by the Director of the Federal Bureau of In-
vestigation, in coordination with the Assistant Attor-
ney General of the Office of Justice Programs of the
Department of Justice; and
(2) require that each DNA sample collected and
analyzed be accessible only—
(A) to criminal justice agencies for law en-
forcement identification purposes;
(B) in judicial proceedings, if otherwise ad-
missible pursuant to applicable statutes or
rules;
(C) for criminal defense purposes, to a de-
fendant, who shall have access to samples and
analyses performed in connection with the case
in which such defendant is charged; or
(D) if personally identifiable information is
removed, for a population statistics database,
for identification research and protocol develop-
ment purposes, or for quality control purposes.
(c) IMPLEMENTATION OF PLAN.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of
appropriations under subsection (d), the Director of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in coordination
with the Assistant Attorney General of the Office of
Justice Programs of the Department of Justice,
shall implement the plan developed pursuant to sub-
section (a) with State and local forensic laboratories
that elect to participate.
(2) CONSIDERATION
OF
EACH
BACKLOG.—In
determining the extent of assistance to be provided
to State and local forensic laboratories under this
section, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Inves-
tigation, in coordination with the Assistant Attorney
General of the Office of Justice Programs of the De-
partment of Justice, shall consider the quantity of
each State and local forensic laboratory’s backlog of
convicted offender DNA samples awaiting analysis,
including samples that need to be reanalyzed using
upgraded methods, and the quantity of casework evi-
dence for unsolved crimes.
(d) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
are authorized to be appropriated to the Department of
Justice to carry out this section $30,000,000 for each of
fiscal years 2001 and 2002.
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