CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 31(FIN) "An Act relating to law enforcement training in domestic violence and sexual assault; relating to sexual assault investigation protocols; requiring an inventory and reports on untested sexual assault examination kits; and providing for an effective date." 10:11:09 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon reported the bill had been heard on April 4, 2018 where public testimony had been heard. The fiscal notes had been reviewed as well. REPRESENTATIVE GERAN TARR, SPONSOR, introduced herself. Co-Chair MacKinnon shared that there were two outstanding issues for the committee to address. The first was related to the process of how anonymous reports worked. The committee had engaged in discussions with the department that had met her satisfaction. The second topic was the cost of training resulting from an increase from 2 hours from some departments to 12 hours. She had provided a series of emails with the Anchorage Police Department (APD), where APD had indicated it did not believe the change would be an undue burden on its facilities. The bill did not cover Village Public Safety Officers (VPSO), who accessed a different form of training and were not police officers. Representative Tarr agreed. 10:13:00 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon asked for a brief overview of the bill. Representative Tarr explained that the bill accomplished three things. First, it put in statute a victim centered approach to reporting sexual assault crimes. She had brought a sexual assault examination kit box to the meeting in case someone had not seen one previously. She elaborated the box was an evidence collection kit. Much work had been done on the issue, and a victim centered approach had been developed that included anonymous reporting and law enforcement reporting. Anonymous reporting allowed the victim to have the evidence collected, which needed to be done in a timely fashion (within 72-hours), but did not require the victim to decide whether they wanted to move forward with a criminal prosecution. If a person wanted to move forward with a prosecution at the time evidence was collected they would select the law enforcement report. The bill would put the victim centered approach into statute. Representative Tarr explained the bill also required individuals to receive 72 hours of sexual assault response training during their law enforcement training in Alaska in addition to 12 hours of domestic violence training, which was currently in statute. Although the sexual assault training was already in statute, the bill underscored its importance. The bill also included an ongoing audit. The first audit had concluded and was presented in November 2017, which provided an understanding of the issue in Alaska. She noted the issue was also happening nationwide, but there were over 3,000 untested rape kits in Alaska. It would be somewhat expensive to get all of the kits tested and go through the process with the victims to ensure they wanted to participate. The audit would provide the legislature with an annual status update. At some point it would no longer be necessary when the backlog was eliminated, and cases were prosecuted. She complimented Co- Chair MacKinnon for discussions that had taken place in the committee. She understood the discussions had been so informative, some of Co-Chair MacKinnon's suggestions would be incorporated into the process. She explained the bill was one step towards ensuring there was reform in the way rape kits were tested, victims received the justice they deserved, and to keep dangerous criminals off the street. 10:15:47 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon shared that under the current bill victims went to healthcare providers when reporting anonymously. She was concerned there could be a closure or problem with keeping track of the location in Anchorage, where storage for the rape kits was centralized. She had asked if the department could work with state law enforcement so that victims would go to law enforcement instead of independent hospitals or medical facilities across Alaska. There was more likely in the next 50 years to be a state trooper position that could locate the numbers for anonymous reporting than individual medical facilities that may change over administrations and lose track of important data. She elaborated that some people did not remember that things happened after awhile when an experience was traumatizing. She explained they may be triggered by something in the future that may cause them to seek out the information. She appreciated the troopers and others who had taken time to speak to her on the important issue. Vice-Chair Bishop reviewed a new zero fiscal note from the Department of Public Safety for statewide support of the training academy (OMB Component Number 524) He read from the second paragraph of the fiscal note's analysis: The Alaska Law Enforcement Training (ALET) is a sixteen week course providing instruction in criminal investigation, police procedure, laws, and physical skills. Instruction comes primarily from commissioned Alaska State Troopers stationed in Sitka. The ALET program fulfills the requirements to be certified as a municipal police officer or an Alaska State Trooper. The ALET program currently exceeds the number of hours of instruction and training in sexual assault laws, response, and investigation as proposed by this legislation so there would be no fiscal impact to the DPS Training Academy should it pass. Therefore, a zero fiscal note is being submitted. 10:18:43 AM Senator von Imhof noted that Representative Tarr had indicated there were currently about 3,000 untested rape kits in the backlog. She remarked that the fiscal note was zero and she believed it specified the department would absorb the cost to address the backlog. She asked for the accuracy of her statements. Representative Tarr responded that currently the funding used to address the backlog had been provided through two federal Department of Justice grants. The kits were being tested in batches - once those funds were gone, if an additional grant was not awarded, the state would have to figure out how to pay for the cost through appropriations in the capital budget or other. There was no appropriation with the current legislation or linked to testing the backlog. She stated, "this is other policy changes, so, the actual testing is a separate issue." Co-Chair MacKinnon relayed she had met with a group of individuals including John Skidmore with the Attorney General's Office, Diane Casto, Executive Director, Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Department of Public Safety, Orin Dym with the state DPS Crime Lab, and others. There were about 3,400 untested kits, 114 of which had been reported anonymously. She noted the numbers had been rounded. There was a possibility for a bare-bone DNA analysis at $1,000 per kit. She wanted to understand what the bare essential analysis provided - she considered whether it was sufficient information compared to the $2,300 cost for prosecuting a kit under some of the current grants. She noted there was a range in cost. She added that it was possible to identify gender DNA differently. The majority of sexual assaults in Alaska were perpetrated by men on women. Tests had been developed that could go back for almost one week instead of 72 hours, which had been best practice when she had been the director of Standing Together Against Rape. She continued that science was taking leaps and bounds forward, but the tests were expensive as they tried to recoup the research and development to get the tests on the market. She expounded they could highlight the male's DNA when searching for matches. 10:21:32 AM Senator von Imhof asked how far the current grant funding would stretch to cover the 3,400 untested kits. Representative Tarr answered that the first grant was $100,000 for testing and additional training. She relayed that Mr. Dym was online and may be able to provide further detail related to the training component. The second grant was largely to develop new systems; it was more about the reform aspects and less about dollars going towards testing. She relayed she would need to double check the figures she had provided. A handful of kit batches were being sent out under the first grant. Additionally, a new grant was available that she had encouraged APD to apply for because some of [the kits] were in its possession. She speculated that several thousand kits would remain once the grant funds had been used. She used 1,500 as a rough average and reported the cost was in the millions of dollars. She explained that every kit would not be tested because in some cases an individual would not want to move forward (there was an anonymous reporting option). She believed it would be a multiyear process to determine how to address the issue. As people were identified and linked to other crimes, there would be prosecution as well. Senator Micciche appreciated the sponsor's work have the kits processed and evaluated. He noted there was information in member's packets that was informative on understanding the funding options. Senator Stevens referenced the anonymous reporting option. He asked if the anonymous kits went to the bottom of the queue. Representative Tarr replied there were two groups of kits. There were cases that were far more recent, which totaled about 70 at the lab currently. The queue was not based on whether a kit was anonymous but was mostly about the timing of the prosecution and when the information was requested. She elaborated when a case came up for consideration the lab was contacted to process the kit. She explained that a victim could chose to move forward at any time with an anonymous report and it would put the kit in the queue. She explained the kit was not ranked at the bottom because it was anonymous, but if a person had done the kit anonymously it meant they specified they were not presently interested in moving forward with testing. Until that changed, it remained in the anonymous pile. 10:25:27 AM Senator Stevens asked for verification that if a kit remained anonymous it would not be tested. Representative Tarr answered in the affirmative. She remarked it could be hard to accept because if it had the potential to get a dangerous person off the streets it would be desirable to move forward; however, the white paper referenced by Senator Micciche from the Department of Justice outlined the victim centered approach, which recommended not moving forward unless the victim was comfortable with that. 10:25:59 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon listed individuals available online for questions. Vice-Chair Bishop MOVED to REPORT SCS CSHB 31(STA) from committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. SCS CSHB 31(STA) was REPORTED out of committee with a "do pass" recommendation and with a new zero fiscal note from the Department of Public Safety, and a previously published zero fiscal note: FN3 (DPS). 10:26:54 AM AT EASE 10:28:11 AM RECONVENED