LAWS: DNA testing funded by $3 assessment

Some laws, such as the measure legalizing Internet poker, took effect the day they were signed into law. The measure is an exception to the routinely slow pace of government. The bill passed both houses of the Legislature and was signed into law the same day by Sandoval.

The Rawson-Neal expansion was part of $13 million in new funding for mental health programs approved by lawmakers. The hospital is the focus of a political firestorm over the transfer of patients out of state, including at least a few cases of alleged patient dumping.

Nuñez said the renovation of the closed psychiatric hospital adjacent to Rawson-Neal is moving forward with the selection of a consultant. But it will take close to two years before construction is complete, he said.

The driver authorization card law, which received bipartisan support in the Legislature, is expected to see as many as 66,000 people apply next year. The law, modeled after a similar law in Utah, is intended to improve driver safety.

“This is not about politics,” Sandoval said at a May 31 bill signing ceremony. “This is about making roads safer. The driver privilege cards will allow someone to drive, but not to be used for identification purposes. This is good for everybody.”

The DNA testing law is known as “Brianna’s Law” for Brianna Denison, who was raped and murdered in 2008 after she was abducted from a home near the University of Nevada, Reno campus.

The bill will require law enforcement to take a cheek swab of someone arrested in connection with a felony. The DNA sample would be destroyed if there is no felony conviction.

The testing will be paid for with a $3 assessment on each person convicted of a misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor or felony.

Linda Krueger, executive director of the Criminalistics Bureau for the Metropolitan Police Department, said the agency is appreciative of the bill’s authors for ensuring there is funding in place to pay for the expanded testing.

The agency handles between 5,000 and 6,000 such tests each year now, which are only administered to those convicted of a felony, she said.

With an average of nearly 25,000 felony arrests statewide each year, that number will expand dramatically for the agency when the new testing requirements take effect in 2014, Krueger said.