Iowa House approves funding stream for rape kit processing

DES MOINES - After learning that some sexual abuse victims were expected to pay the cost of processing evidence kits, an Iowa lawmaker shepherded legislation through the House to establish a tracking system that eventually will be paid for by criminals.

Rep. Brian Lohse, R-Bondurant, who said he was appalled to learn victims were charged the cost of processing what often are referred to as rape kits. In one case, the evidence kit was lost before the case went to trial, which resulted in the accused perpetrator going free, Lohse said during floor debate Tuesday.

House File 426, he said, 'is to make sure that when the crime victim gets to trial, the evidence that will be used to convict the assailant isn't lost. We want to ensure that by tracking each and every step of this kit so we know where it's at, so we can put the perpetrator in justice.”

HF 426, which was approved 93-0, will provide on ongoing funding stream for the automated tracking system established by the Iowa Attorney General's Office in 2020 with a $796,985 federal grant, follows rape kits from collection at a hospital, to law enforcement, to the crime lab for analysis and back to law enforcement.

The grant will cover the tracking system's cost through 2023. Under HF 426, it will be funded with criminal fines and penalties, a percentage of the earnings of inmates employed in the private sector, and federal funds. There may be additional costs to local law enforcement to use the system, according to a fiscal note on the bill.

'This has been a long time coming,” said Rep. Marti Anderson, D-Des Moines, who formerly worked with crime victims in the Attorney General's Office.

A state audit in 2017 revealed there were 4,200 untested sexual assault evidence kits in law enforcement offices throughout Iowa. In 2020, the Attorney General's Office reported more than 1,600 still needed testing.

The Legislature's Justice Systems Appropriations Subcommittee has been addressing the backlog by finding funds for more technicians in the Division of Criminal Investigation crime lab, Anderson said. As a result, last year the Department of Public Safety said it had reduced the runaround time for processing the kits from 199 days to 46.

'I'm thrilled that 10 years from now we won't have to put out another survey to find out how many unprocessed boxes there are out in the state,” she said.

The cost for the tracking program is nearly $158,000 a year, increasing annually to $170,700 in fiscal 2027.

The system tracks the location of a kit and allow updates by entities with custody of a kit. It also will allow a victim to anonymously track the kit.

SF 451, a companion bill, has been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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