New legislation, impacting the storage of unreported Sexual Assault Kits (SAKs) takes effect on June 11, 2020.
HB 2318 establishes new requirements for local law enforcement agencies, requiring law enforcement agencies to transport unreported SAKs collected on or after June 30, 2020, from the collecting entity to the applicable local law enforcement agency. Additionally, law enforcement agencies have until January 1, 2021, to transport all existing unreported SAKs to the appropriate agency. Once received, the agency shall store and preserve the unreported SAK for 20 years from the date of collection.
To help ease storage capacity concerns, the new law allows law enforcement agencies to store found property (property that is not evidence) at an alternative location.