HB4856 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 39011 RLC 69148 b

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.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning criminal law.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Sexual Assault Evidence Submission Act is amended by changing Sections 15 and 50 as follows:

(725 ILCS 202/15)

Sec. 15. Analysis of evidence; notification.

(a) All sexual assault evidence submitted pursuant to Section 10 of this Act on or after the effective date of this Act shall be analyzed within 6 months after receipt of all necessary evidence and standards by the Illinois State Police Laboratory or other designated laboratory if sufficient staffing and resources are available.

(b) 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, and the Illinois State Police shall provide an automatic courtesy copy of the written notification to the appropriate State's Attorney's Office for tracking and further action, as necessary. Within 5 days after receiving notification under this subsection, 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.

(c) 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 under subsection (b), 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.

(Source: P.A. 102-538, eff. 8-20-21.)

(725 ILCS 202/50)

Sec. 50. Sexual assault evidence tracking system.

(a) On June 26, 2018, the Sexual Assault Evidence Tracking and Reporting Commission issued its report as required under Section 43. It is the intention of the General Assembly in enacting the provisions of this amendatory Act of the 101st General Assembly to implement the recommendations of the Sexual Assault Evidence Tracking and Reporting Commission set forth in that report in a manner that utilizes the current resources of law enforcement agencies whenever possible and that is adaptable to changing technologies and circumstances.

(a-1) Due to the complex nature of a statewide tracking system for sexual assault evidence and to ensure all stakeholders, including, but not limited to, victims and their designees, health care facilities, law enforcement agencies, forensic labs, and State's Attorneys offices are integrated, the Commission recommended the purchase of an electronic off-the-shelf tracking system. The system must be able to communicate with all stakeholders and provide real-time information to a victim or his or her designee on the status of the evidence that was collected. The sexual assault evidence tracking system must:

(1) be electronic and web-based;

(2) be administered by the Illinois State Police;

(3) have help desk availability at all times;

(4) ensure the law enforcement agency contact information is accessible to the victim or his or her designee through the tracking system, so there is contact information for questions;

(5) have the option for external connectivity to evidence management systems, laboratory information management systems, or other electronic data systems already in existence by any of the stakeholders to minimize additional burdens or tasks on stakeholders;

(6) allow for the victim to opt in for automatic notifications when status updates are entered in the system, if the system allows;

(7) include at each step in the process, a brief explanation of the general purpose of that step and a general indication of how long the step may take to complete;

(8) contain minimum fields for tracking and reporting, as follows:

(A) for sexual assault evidence kit vendor fields:

(i) each sexual evidence kit identification number provided to each health care facility; and

(ii) the date the sexual evidence kit was sent to the health care facility.

(B) for health care facility fields:

(i) the date sexual assault evidence was collected; and

(ii) the date notification was made to the law enforcement agency that the sexual assault evidence was collected.

(C) for law enforcement agency fields:

(i) the date the law enforcement agency took possession of the sexual assault evidence from the health care facility, another law enforcement agency, or victim if he or she did not go through a health care facility;

(ii) the law enforcement agency complaint number;

(iii) if the law enforcement agency that takes possession of the sexual assault evidence from a health care facility is not the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction in which the offense occurred, the date when the law enforcement agency notified the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction that the agency has sexual assault evidence required under subsection (c) of Section 20 of the Sexual Assault Incident Procedure Act;

(iv) an indication if the victim consented for analysis of the sexual assault evidence;

(v) if the victim did not consent for analysis of the sexual assault evidence, the date on which the law enforcement agency is no longer required to store the sexual assault evidence;

(vi) a mechanism for the law enforcement agency to document why the sexual assault evidence was not submitted to the laboratory for analysis, if applicable;

(vii) the date the law enforcement agency received the sexual assault evidence results back from the laboratory;

(viii) the date statutory notifications were made to the victim or documentation of why notification was not made; and

(ix) the date the law enforcement agency turned over the case information to the State's Attorney office, if applicable.

(D) for forensic lab fields:

(i) the date the sexual assault evidence is received from the law enforcement agency by the forensic lab for analysis;

(ii) the laboratory case number, visible to the law enforcement agency and State's Attorney office; and

(iii) the date the laboratory completes the analysis of the sexual assault evidence.

(E) for State's Attorney office fields:

(i) the date the State's Attorney office received the sexual assault evidence results from the laboratory, if applicable; and

(ii) the disposition or status of the case.

(a-2) The Commission also developed guidelines for secure electronic access to a tracking system for a victim, or his or her designee to access information on the status of the evidence collected. The Commission recommended minimum guidelines in order to safeguard confidentiality of the information contained within this statewide tracking system. These recommendations are that the sexual assault evidence tracking system must:

(1) allow for secure access, controlled by an administering body who can restrict user access and allow different permissions based on the need of that particular user and health care facility users may include out-of-state border hospitals, if authorized by the Illinois State Police to obtain this State's kits from vendor;

(2) provide for users, other than victims, the ability to provide for any individual who is granted access to the program their own unique user ID and password;

(3) provide for a mechanism for a victim to enter the system and only access his or her own information, which must include the information transferred under Section 15, except if prohibited by the investigating law enforcement agency under this subsection. 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;

(4) enable a sexual assault evidence to be tracked and identified through the unique sexual assault evidence kit identification number or barcode that the vendor applies to each sexual assault evidence kit per the Illinois State Police's contract;

(5) have a mechanism to inventory unused kits provided to a health care facility from the vendor;

(6) provide users the option to either scan the bar code or manually enter the sexual assault evidence kit number into the tracking program;

(7) provide a mechanism to create a separate unique identification number for cases in which a sexual evidence kit was not collected, but other evidence was collected;

(8) provide the ability to record date, time, and user ID whenever any user accesses the system;

(9) provide for real-time entry and update of data;

(10) contain report functions including:

(A) health care facility compliance with applicable laws;

(B) law enforcement agency compliance with applicable laws;

(C) law enforcement agency annual inventory of cases to each State's Attorney office; and

(D) forensic lab compliance with applicable laws; and

(11) provide automatic notifications to the law enforcement agency when:

(A) a health care facility has collected sexual assault evidence;

(B) unreleased sexual assault evidence that is being stored by the law enforcement agency has met the minimum storage requirement by law; and

(C) timelines as required by law are not met for a particular case, if not otherwise documented.

(b) The Illinois State Police may develop rules to implement a sexual assault evidence tracking system that conforms with subsections (a-1) and (a-2) of this Section. The Illinois State Police shall design the criteria for the sexual assault evidence tracking system so that, to the extent reasonably possible, the system can use existing technologies and products, including, but not limited to, currently available tracking systems. The sexual assault evidence tracking system shall be operational and shall begin tracking and reporting sexual assault evidence no later than one year after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 101st General Assembly. The Illinois State Police may adopt additional rules as it deems necessary to ensure that the sexual assault evidence tracking system continues to be a useful tool for law enforcement.

(c) A treatment hospital, a treatment hospital with approved pediatric transfer, an out-of-state hospital approved by the Department of Public Health to receive transfers of Illinois sexual assault survivors, or an approved pediatric health care facility defined in Section 1a of the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act shall participate in the sexual assault evidence tracking system created under this Section and in accordance with rules adopted under subsection (b), including, but not limited to, the collection of sexual assault evidence and providing information regarding that evidence, including, but not limited to, providing notice to law enforcement that the evidence has been collected.

(d) The operations of the sexual assault evidence tracking system shall be funded by moneys appropriated for that purpose from the State Crime Laboratory Fund and funds provided to the Illinois State Police through asset forfeiture, together with such other funds as the General Assembly may appropriate.

(e) To ensure that the sexual assault evidence tracking system is operational, the Illinois State Police may adopt emergency rules to implement the provisions of this Section under subsection (ff) of Section 5-45 of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act.

(f) Information, including, but not limited to, evidence and records in the sexual assault evidence tracking system is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

(Source: P.A. 101-377, eff. 8-16-19; 102-22, eff. 6-25-21; 102-523, eff. 8-20-21; 102-538, eff. 8-20-21; 102-813, eff. 5-13-22.)