HB 49-EXPAND DNA DATABASE  CHAIR SEEKINS announced SCS CSHB 49(JUD), version \S, to be up for consideration. REPRESENTATIVE ANDERSON, sponsor of HB 49, said there were some concerns about what law enforcement can use DNA for in investigations and about destruction of the samples after exoneration or once someone has been convicted and how those are retained. He heard discussions about the latitude of inclusions of all felonies and misdemeanors. SENATOR OGAN said several years ago, burglary was added to the list of offenses for which DNA could be collected. This bill would require DNA samples from a couple of high school kids and lots of new offenses. DNA is not like fingerprints; it identifies your genetic makeup and propensity for you and members of your family for having certain diseases. He wanted to know why it was important to expand this capability to so many other crimes including some misdemeanors. MS. ANNIE CARPENETI, Department of Law, supported HB 49 and said they dealt with some of the privacy issues Senator Ellis raised yesterday. Mr. Chris Beheim, Director, Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, Department of Public Safety, testified that he has data that shows how having the information in the bank from crimes you would not expect are necessarily related to one another really helps solve serious crimes that are committed after the initial one. MS. CARPENETI said the privacy concerns were good ones, but this bill answers those concerns. It's a limited purpose DNA bank - only for criminal investigation and identification. It's also limited to convicted offenders and volunteers. The information in the data bank and the samples are confidential and it is a Class C felony to misuse the samples or the data resulting from them. She recapped that the crime lab tests 13 sites on a DNA molecule. It's identification information that doesn't provide information about propensity for disease or family characteristics. It's true that the samples are saved, but that's to be able to double-check if a match is made. The only other time they would be used would be if another serious crime were committed where blood or semen is left. SENATOR OGAN said DNA is collected from many different things - urine, saliva and hair to mention a few. His concern is that this is good as long as the government is good and doesn't violate the Bill of Rights. But, there are people in jail now who have not had due process and no one has access to who they are; it's not public record and the trials are in secret. He carried his concern further saying DNA information could be very dangerous to a person like Saddam Hussein who might track down families of people he didn't like. SENATOR FRENCH said that no one would have their DNA taken until a jury has said they are guilty of a felony or they plead to it. So, he felt there was fairly significant protection in the bill for collection of DNA. Statistics from Mr. Beheim indicate that if you take DNA from people convicted of just drug crimes, of the next crimes solved, 18 percent are sex offenses and 23 percent are homicides. So, people who have a drug conviction frequently do a different and more serious type of crime and the same for forgery. He felt that just taking samples from felony criminals is a good balance. On page 3, line 27, the bill allows DNA analysis to be used for law enforcement purposes including criminal investigations and prosecutions and he thought deleting "law enforcement purposes including" would give some people comfort that you wouldn't have renegade usage of the DNA. He added that this bill allows DNA to be taken from a body part at a crime scene or something like that. CHAIR SEEKINS said they were thinking about inserting "deceased" in front of "unidentified person". SENATOR FRENCH approved of that. SENATOR OGAN supported deleting "law enforcement purposes including" and was concerned also with language on page 3, line 7, that said "or tissue sample from a crime scene as evidence or from an unidentified person or body part". The "or" creates a separate category. MS. CARPENETI suggested saying either "law enforcement identification purposes for identifying people and body parts", because that's not necessarily included in a crime scene investigation. SENATOR FRENCH felt that identifying a lost person was a separate issue from this bill. MS. CARPENETI said on page 3, line 7 they could delete "and" and on line 8, delete "person or body part" and insert "human remains". SENATOR THERRIAULT moved to adopt that as amendment 1. There was no objection and it was so ordered. SENATOR OGAN motioned to delete from page 3, line 27... TAPE 03-42, SIDE A    "law enforcement purposes including". MS. CARPENETI said she was concerned about identification purposes. There was general discussion of wording. CHAIR SEEKINS asked if there was an objection to doing a conceptual amendment to use DNA for identifying unidentified human remains. There was no objection and amendment 2 was adopted. MS. CARPENETI suggested adding "or child kidnapper" - after "sex offender" on page 2, line 14 because that is a term the federal government uses. SENATOR THERRIAULT motioned adopting that as amendment 3. There was no objection and it was so ordered. SENATOR OGAN said he understood the connection, but he thought it would be a better bill if DNA were collected for felonies only. He said he was willing to make some sacrifices to live in a free society where he could keep and bear arms and he was willing to take the risk and delete DNA collection for misdemeanors. He announced his support for the bill would be contingent on that issue. SENATOR THERRIAULT moved to pass SCS CSHB 49(JUD) from committee with individual recommendations and the attached fiscal notes. SENATOR OGAN objected. Chair Seekins called for a roll call vote and the motion passed with Senators French, Therriault and Seekins voting yeah and Senator Ogan voting nay.