Debbie Smith Act of 2019

IC 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 820 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 20, 2019 Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary AN ACT To strengthen programs authorized under the Debbie Smith Act of 2004. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S820.RFH S820 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 S 820 RFH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Debbie Smith Act of 2 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. DNA BACKLOG GRANT PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT. 4 Section 2 of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination 5 Act of 2000 (34 U.S.C. 40701) is amended— 6 (1) in subsection (a)— 7 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘includ- 8 ing’’ and inserting ‘‘prioritizing, to the extent 9 practicable consistent with public safety consid- 10 erations’’; and 11 (B) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘includ- 12 ing’’ and inserting ‘‘in particular,’’; 13 (2) in subsection (b)— 14 (A) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 15 the end; 16 (B) in paragraph (7), by striking the pe- 17 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 18 (C) by adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘(8) provide assurances that the DNA section 20 of the laboratory to be used to conduct DNA anal- 21 yses has a written policy that prioritizes the analysis 22 of, to the extent practicable consistent with public 23 safety considerations, samples from homicides and 24 sexual assaults.’’; 25 (3) in subsection (c)(3)— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S820.RFH S820 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 S 820 RFH (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking 1 ‘‘2014 through 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘2019 2 through 2024’’; and 3 (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking 4 ‘‘2014 through 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘2019 5 through 2024’’; 6 (4) in subsection (g)— 7 (A) by redesignating paragraph (1), (2), 8 and (3) as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), 9 and adjusting the margins accordingly; 10 (B) by striking ‘‘Not later’’ and inserting 11 the following: 12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later’’; and 13 (C) by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(2) IMPLEMENTATION OF PROGRAM IMPROVE- 15 MENTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of en- 16 actment of the Debbie Smith Act of 2019— 17 ‘‘(A) the Director of the National Institute 18 of Justice shall— 19 ‘‘(i) define DNA Capacity Enhance- 20 ment and Backlog Reduction program-wide 21 goals in clear, specific, and measurable 22 terms; 23 ‘‘(ii) consistently document the goals 24 defined under clause (i); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S820.RFH S820 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 S 820 RFH ‘‘(iii) use performance measures for 1 each goal defined under clause (i) that 2 fully reflect the appropriate attributes of 3 successful performance measures according 4 to recommendations made by the Govern- 5 ment Accountability Office in the report 6 entitled, ‘DNA Evidence: DOJ Should Im- 7 prove Performance Measurement and 8 Properly Design controls for Nationwide 9 Grant Program’ (GAO–19–216); and 10 ‘‘(B) the Assistant Attorney General for 11 the Office of Justice Programs shall fully estab- 12 lish all appropriate controls relating to conflicts 13 of interest and to lobbying as reported by the 14 Government Accountability Office in the report 15 entitled, ‘DNA Evidence: DOJ Should Improve 16 Performance Measurement and Properly Design 17 controls for Nationwide Grant Program’ (GAO– 18 19–216). 19 ‘‘(3) REPORT ON EFFECTIVENESS OF GRANT 20 PROGRAM.—Not later than 180 days after the date 21 on which the Comptroller General of the United 22 States issues the 2018 report on the DNA Capacity 23 Enhancement and Backlog Reduction Grant Pro- 24 gram, or 180 days after the date of enactment of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S820.RFH S820 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 S 820 RFH the Debbie Smith Act of 2019, whichever date is 1 later, the Attorney General shall submit a report to 2 the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and 3 the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 4 Representatives that— 5 ‘‘(A) describes any action taken by the De- 6 partment of Justice since the release of the 7 2018 report on the DNA Capacity Enhance- 8 ment and Backlog Reduction Grant Program to 9 improve the DNA Capacity Enhancement and 10 Backlog Reduction Grant Program based on 11 the recommendations of the Comptroller Gen- 12 eral; and 13 ‘‘(B) includes recommendations for re- 14 forms that could enhance the effectiveness of 15 the program in reducing the backlog of 16 unanalyzed DNA evidence in sexual assault 17 cases.’’. 18 ‘‘(4) GAO REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 19 after the end of the third fiscal year beginning after 20 the date of enactment of the Debbie Smith Act of 21 2019, and once every 3 fiscal years thereafter 22 through fiscal year 2025, the Comptroller General of 23 the United States shall issue a report on the DNA 24 analysis workloads at laboratories that participate in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S820.RFH S820 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 S 820 RFH the Combined DNA Index System using data avail- 1 able from the DNA Capacity Enhancement and 2 Backlog Reduction Grant Program or other sources 3 that— 4 ‘‘(A) describes, by year— 5 ‘‘(i) the total number of new crime 6 scene DNA analysis requests submitted to 7 laboratories; 8 ‘‘(ii) the total number of crime scene 9 DNA analysis requests analyzed including, 10 to the extent practicable and reported sep- 11 arately— 12 ‘‘(I) the number analyzed at lab- 13 oratories participating in Combined 14 DNA Index System; and 15 ‘‘(II) the number of requests 16 outsourced and analyzed at private 17 laboratories; 18 ‘‘(iii) the total number of DNA pro- 19 files from crime scene evidence uploaded to 20 the Combined DNA Index System; 21 ‘‘(iv) the total number of Combined 22 DNA Index System hits and investigations 23 aided resulting from DNA profiles recov- 24 ered from crime scene evidence; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S820.RFH S820 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 S 820 RFH ‘‘(v) the number of outstanding crime 1 scene DNA analysis requests at the end of 2 each year and the number of such out- 3 standing requests that are older than 30 4 days at the end of the year; and 5 ‘‘(vi) to the extent practicable, the 6 number of requests associated with sexual 7 assault cases submitted to laboratories 8 during the year and the number of such 9 requests that are older than 30 days at the 10 end of the year; and 11 ‘‘(B) includes a determination as to— 12 ‘‘(i) whether the National Institute of 13 Justice has defined DNA Capacity En- 14 hancement and Backlog Reduction pro- 15 gram-wide goals as required under para- 16 graph (2)(A); and 17 ‘‘(ii) whether the Office of Justice 18 Programs has fully established all appro- 19 priate controls relating to conflicts of inter- 20 est and to lobbying as required under 21 paragraph (2)(B).’’; and 22 (5) in subsection (j), by striking ‘‘2015 through 23 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘2019 through 2024’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S820.RFH S820 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 S 820 RFH SEC. 3. TRAINING AND EDUCATION. 1 Section 303(b) of the DNA Sexual Assault Justice 2 Act of 2004 (34 U.S.C. 40722(b)) is amended by striking 3 ‘‘2015 through 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘2019 through 4 2024’’. 5 SEC. 4. SEXUAL ASSAULT FORENSIC EXAM GRANTS. 6 Section 304(d) of the DNA Sexual Assault Justice 7 Act of 2004 (34 U.S.C. 40723(d)) is amended by striking 8 ‘‘2015 through 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘2019 through 9 2024’’. 10 Passed the Senate May 16, 2019. Attest: JULIE E. ADAMS, Secretary. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S820.RFH S820 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS