103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB4856

 

Introduced 2/7/2024, by Rep. Sonya M. Harper

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
725 ILCS 202/15
725 ILCS 202/50

    Amends the Sexual Assault Evidence Submission Act. Provides that if a consistent DNA profile has been identified by comparing the submitted sexual assault evidence with a known standard from a suspect or with DNA profiles in the CODIS database, the Illinois State Police shall notify the investigating law enforcement agency of the results in writing within 7 days after notification. Provides that within 5 days after receiving notification, the investigating law enforcement agency must: (1) send acknowledgment to the Illinois State Police or designated laboratory that the law enforcement agency has received the notification; and (2) provide any additional information concerning the match to the Illinois State Police or the designated laboratory as requested by the Illinois State Police or designated laboratory. Provides that the Illinois State Police or designated laboratory shall also provide to the investigating law enforcement agency, within 30 days after a consistent DNA profile has been identified of (i) any case-to case match that may assist in the investigation of a criminal case and (ii) any verified match that identifies a suspect or offender. Provides that the sexual assault evidence tracking system must allow the investigating law enforcement agency to prohibit access to information regarding DNA matches and follow-up investigations to the victim if the law enforcement agency would determine that doing so would interfere with the investigation or prosecution of the crime.


LRB103 39011 RLC 69148 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB4856LRB103 39011 RLC 69148 b

1    AN ACT concerning criminal law.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Sexual Assault Evidence Submission Act is
5amended by changing Sections 15 and 50 as follows:
 
6    (725 ILCS 202/15)
7    Sec. 15. Analysis of evidence; notification.
8    (a) All sexual assault evidence submitted pursuant to
9Section 10 of this Act on or after the effective date of this
10Act shall be analyzed within 6 months after receipt of all
11necessary evidence and standards by the Illinois State Police
12Laboratory or other designated laboratory if sufficient
13staffing and resources are available.
14    (b) If a consistent DNA profile has been identified by
15comparing the submitted sexual assault evidence with a known
16standard from a suspect or with DNA profiles in the CODIS
17database, the Illinois State Police shall notify the
18investigating law enforcement agency of the results in writing
19within 7 days after notification, and the Illinois State
20Police shall provide an automatic courtesy copy of the written
21notification to the appropriate State's Attorney's Office for
22tracking and further action, as necessary. Within 5 days after
23receiving notification under this subsection, the

 

 

HB4856- 2 -LRB103 39011 RLC 69148 b

1investigating law enforcement agency must:
2        (1) send acknowledgment to the Illinois State Police
3    or designated laboratory that the law enforcement agency
4    has received the notification; and
5        (2) provide any additional information concerning the
6    match to the Illinois State Police or the designated
7    laboratory as requested by the Illinois State Police or
8    designated laboratory.
9    (c) The Illinois State Police or designated laboratory
10shall also provide to the investigating law enforcement
11agency, within 30 days after a consistent DNA profile has been
12identified under subsection (b), of (i) any case-to case match
13that may assist in the investigation of a criminal case and
14(ii) any verified match that identifies a suspect or offender.
15(Source: P.A. 102-538, eff. 8-20-21.)
 
16    (725 ILCS 202/50)
17    Sec. 50. Sexual assault evidence tracking system.
18    (a) On June 26, 2018, the Sexual Assault Evidence Tracking
19and Reporting Commission issued its report as required under
20Section 43. It is the intention of the General Assembly in
21enacting the provisions of this amendatory Act of the 101st
22General Assembly to implement the recommendations of the
23Sexual Assault Evidence Tracking and Reporting Commission set
24forth in that report in a manner that utilizes the current
25resources of law enforcement agencies whenever possible and

 

 

HB4856- 3 -LRB103 39011 RLC 69148 b

1that is adaptable to changing technologies and circumstances.
2    (a-1) Due to the complex nature of a statewide tracking
3system for sexual assault evidence and to ensure all
4stakeholders, including, but not limited to, victims and their
5designees, health care facilities, law enforcement agencies,
6forensic labs, and State's Attorneys offices are integrated,
7the Commission recommended the purchase of an electronic
8off-the-shelf tracking system. The system must be able to
9communicate with all stakeholders and provide real-time
10information to a victim or his or her designee on the status of
11the evidence that was collected. The sexual assault evidence
12tracking system must:
13        (1) be electronic and web-based;
14        (2) be administered by the Illinois State Police;
15        (3) have help desk availability at all times;
16        (4) ensure the law enforcement agency contact
17    information is accessible to the victim or his or her
18    designee through the tracking system, so there is contact
19    information for questions;
20        (5) have the option for external connectivity to
21    evidence management systems, laboratory information
22    management systems, or other electronic data systems
23    already in existence by any of the stakeholders to
24    minimize additional burdens or tasks on stakeholders;
25        (6) allow for the victim to opt in for automatic
26    notifications when status updates are entered in the

 

 

HB4856- 4 -LRB103 39011 RLC 69148 b

1    system, if the system allows;
2        (7) include at each step in the process, a brief
3    explanation of the general purpose of that step and a
4    general indication of how long the step may take to
5    complete;
6        (8) contain minimum fields for tracking and reporting,
7    as follows:
8            (A) for sexual assault evidence kit vendor fields:
9                (i) each sexual evidence kit identification
10            number provided to each health care facility; and
11                (ii) the date the sexual evidence kit was sent
12            to the health care facility.
13            (B) for health care facility fields:
14                (i) the date sexual assault evidence was
15            collected; and
16                (ii) the date notification was made to the law
17            enforcement agency that the sexual assault
18            evidence was collected.
19            (C) for law enforcement agency fields:
20                (i) the date the law enforcement agency took
21            possession of the sexual assault evidence from the
22            health care facility, another law enforcement
23            agency, or victim if he or she did not go through a
24            health care facility;
25                (ii) the law enforcement agency complaint
26            number;

 

 

HB4856- 5 -LRB103 39011 RLC 69148 b

1                (iii) if the law enforcement agency that takes
2            possession of the sexual assault evidence from a
3            health care facility is not the law enforcement
4            agency with jurisdiction in which the offense
5            occurred, the date when the law enforcement agency
6            notified the law enforcement agency having
7            jurisdiction that the agency has sexual assault
8            evidence required under subsection (c) of Section
9            20 of the Sexual Assault Incident Procedure Act;
10                (iv) an indication if the victim consented for
11            analysis of the sexual assault evidence;
12                (v) if the victim did not consent for analysis
13            of the sexual assault evidence, the date on which
14            the law enforcement agency is no longer required
15            to store the sexual assault evidence;
16                (vi) a mechanism for the law enforcement
17            agency to document why the sexual assault evidence
18            was not submitted to the laboratory for analysis,
19            if applicable;
20                (vii) the date the law enforcement agency
21            received the sexual assault evidence results back
22            from the laboratory;
23                (viii) the date statutory notifications were
24            made to the victim or documentation of why
25            notification was not made; and
26                (ix) the date the law enforcement agency

 

 

HB4856- 6 -LRB103 39011 RLC 69148 b

1            turned over the case information to the State's
2            Attorney office, if applicable.
3            (D) for forensic lab fields:
4                (i) the date the sexual assault evidence is
5            received from the law enforcement agency by the
6            forensic lab for analysis;
7                (ii) the laboratory case number, visible to
8            the law enforcement agency and State's Attorney
9            office; and
10                (iii) the date the laboratory completes the
11            analysis of the sexual assault evidence.
12            (E) for State's Attorney office fields:
13                (i) the date the State's Attorney office
14            received the sexual assault evidence results from
15            the laboratory, if applicable; and
16                (ii) the disposition or status of the case.
17    (a-2) The Commission also developed guidelines for secure
18electronic access to a tracking system for a victim, or his or
19her designee to access information on the status of the
20evidence collected. The Commission recommended minimum
21guidelines in order to safeguard confidentiality of the
22information contained within this statewide tracking system.
23These recommendations are that the sexual assault evidence
24tracking system must:
25        (1) allow for secure access, controlled by an
26    administering body who can restrict user access and allow

 

 

HB4856- 7 -LRB103 39011 RLC 69148 b

1    different permissions based on the need of that particular
2    user and health care facility users may include
3    out-of-state border hospitals, if authorized by the
4    Illinois State Police to obtain this State's kits from
5    vendor;
6        (2) provide for users, other than victims, the ability
7    to provide for any individual who is granted access to the
8    program their own unique user ID and password;
9        (3) provide for a mechanism for a victim to enter the
10    system and only access his or her own information, which
11    must include the information transferred under Section 15,
12    except if prohibited by the investigating law enforcement
13    agency under this subsection. The sexual assault evidence
14    tracking system must allow the investigating law
15    enforcement agency to prohibit access to information
16    regarding DNA matches and follow-up investigations to the
17    victim if the law enforcement agency would determine that
18    doing so would interfere with the investigation or
19    prosecution of the crime;
20        (4) enable a sexual assault evidence to be tracked and
21    identified through the unique sexual assault evidence kit
22    identification number or barcode that the vendor applies
23    to each sexual assault evidence kit per the Illinois State
24    Police's contract;
25        (5) have a mechanism to inventory unused kits provided
26    to a health care facility from the vendor;

 

 

HB4856- 8 -LRB103 39011 RLC 69148 b

1        (6) provide users the option to either scan the bar
2    code or manually enter the sexual assault evidence kit
3    number into the tracking program;
4        (7) provide a mechanism to create a separate unique
5    identification number for cases in which a sexual evidence
6    kit was not collected, but other evidence was collected;
7        (8) provide the ability to record date, time, and user
8    ID whenever any user accesses the system;
9        (9) provide for real-time entry and update of data;
10        (10) contain report functions including:
11            (A) health care facility compliance with
12        applicable laws;
13            (B) law enforcement agency compliance with
14        applicable laws;
15            (C) law enforcement agency annual inventory of
16        cases to each State's Attorney office; and
17            (D) forensic lab compliance with applicable laws;
18        and
19        (11) provide automatic notifications to the law
20    enforcement agency when:
21            (A) a health care facility has collected sexual
22        assault evidence;
23            (B) unreleased sexual assault evidence that is
24        being stored by the law enforcement agency has met the
25        minimum storage requirement by law; and
26            (C) timelines as required by law are not met for a

 

 

HB4856- 9 -LRB103 39011 RLC 69148 b

1        particular case, if not otherwise documented.
2    (b) The Illinois State Police may develop rules to
3implement a sexual assault evidence tracking system that
4conforms with subsections (a-1) and (a-2) of this Section. The
5Illinois State Police shall design the criteria for the sexual
6assault evidence tracking system so that, to the extent
7reasonably possible, the system can use existing technologies
8and products, including, but not limited to, currently
9available tracking systems. The sexual assault evidence
10tracking system shall be operational and shall begin tracking
11and reporting sexual assault evidence no later than one year
12after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 101st
13General Assembly. The Illinois State Police may adopt
14additional rules as it deems necessary to ensure that the
15sexual assault evidence tracking system continues to be a
16useful tool for law enforcement.
17    (c) A treatment hospital, a treatment hospital with
18approved pediatric transfer, an out-of-state hospital approved
19by the Department of Public Health to receive transfers of
20Illinois sexual assault survivors, or an approved pediatric
21health care facility defined in Section 1a of the Sexual
22Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act shall participate in
23the sexual assault evidence tracking system created under this
24Section and in accordance with rules adopted under subsection
25(b), including, but not limited to, the collection of sexual
26assault evidence and providing information regarding that

 

 

HB4856- 10 -LRB103 39011 RLC 69148 b

1evidence, including, but not limited to, providing notice to
2law enforcement that the evidence has been collected.
3    (d) The operations of the sexual assault evidence tracking
4system shall be funded by moneys appropriated for that purpose
5from the State Crime Laboratory Fund and funds provided to the
6Illinois State Police through asset forfeiture, together with
7such other funds as the General Assembly may appropriate.
8    (e) To ensure that the sexual assault evidence tracking
9system is operational, the Illinois State Police may adopt
10emergency rules to implement the provisions of this Section
11under subsection (ff) of Section 5-45 of the Illinois
12Administrative Procedure Act.
13    (f) Information, including, but not limited to, evidence
14and records in the sexual assault evidence tracking system is
15exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
16(Source: P.A. 101-377, eff. 8-16-19; 102-22, eff. 6-25-21;
17102-523, eff. 8-20-21; 102-538, eff. 8-20-21; 102-813, eff.
185-13-22.)