Rape-kit reporting bill goes to governor
SACRAMENTO — California would require law enforcement agencies to disclose their number of untested rape kits under a bill sent to Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday, while another bill to require speedy testing of the evidence awaits approval in the Legislature.
AB3118, by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, would create the first statewide tally of untested rape kits — evidence collected after a sexual assault — by mandating law enforcement agencies to count and report how many they have to the Department of Justice by July 1, 2019.
The bill passed the Assembly in a 57-0 vote on Monday. The Senate passed the bill 39-0 on Thursday. Brown has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto it.
“We are one step closer to bringing justice to sexual assault survivors across the state,” Chiu said Monday.
Chiu’s bill was introduced alongside
SB1449 by Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino (San Bernardino County), which would require law enforcement agencies to test any rape kit collected after Jan. 1, 2016.The rape kits would have to be sent to a lab within 20 days of being booked into evidence, and labs would have to complete their analysis within 120 days. The bill would go into effect Jan. 1.
Current law says evidence from sexual assaults should be tested within those time frames, but it is not required. The current state budget includes $7.5 million to help law enforcement pay for the rape kit testing and audit.
SB1449 is pending a vote in the Assembly. The bill passed the Senate 38-0 in May.
Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley is among the most vocal supporters of the bills, previously telling The Chronicle that the legislation is needed to prevent lapses like one in Berkeley.
In that case, the Berkeley Police Department failed to test a rape kit for more than six years from a 2008 abduction and sexual assault of two young women. The suspect in that case allegedly went on to attack a woman in her home in February 2015 and, 10 days later, rape and murder a woman in Albany.
The woman who survived the first attack, Ann Reidy, told The Chronicle in May that there was “no doubt in my mind that this was preventable.” Relatives of Randhir Kaur, the dental student who was slain in her Albany apartment on March 8, 2015, said they were horrified to learn of the shelved evidence that left a suspect free to attack.
The suspect, Keith Kenard Asberry Jr., who police say is linked by DNA to each of the crimes, pleaded not guilty in July to 14 counts, including murder and rape.
Other bills passed by the Legislature on Monday and headed to Brown:
SB1127, by Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, would allow school districts to adopt policies allowing students with special needs or severe disabilities to use medical cannabis on campus. The bill does not require school districts to create policies, but lets them decide whether to allow cannabis use under those circumstances.
Under the bill, a parent or guardian could administer medical marijuana to a child as long as it is in a nonsmoking, non-vaping form while on campus. The cannabis could not be stored at the school.
The bill, called Jojo’s Act, is named after a South San Francisco High School student with a severe form of epilepsy who must be taken off campus so his mother may give him a dose of cannabis oil, which prevents debilitating and lifethreatening seizures.
SB1127 passed the Assembly 42-20 on Monday, with 18 lawmakers not voting. The Senate passed the bill 32-7 in May.
AB186, by Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, would authorize San Francisco to open safe injection facilities for illicit drug users to shoot up and ride out their high under clinical supervision.
The bill passed the Assembly 41-24 and heads to Brown for final approval. Brown’s office declined to comment on the bill Monday. The longsought bill creates a four-year pilot program in San Francisco aimed at reducing opioid overdoses and encouraging users to go into treatment.
“We know we have people losing their lives on the streets,” Eggman said. “We know what we are doing is not working. There is over 20 years of data supporting these as a harm reduction, preventive measure to help people get into treatment and safe lives.”
The bill stalled in the Senate last year before Eggman narrowed it this year from allowing six counties to participate in the pilot program to just San Francisco. The bill passed the Senate 21-16 last week.
The bill is backed by San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who has been working to ease unrest about the potential for safe injection sites in the city. Starting Tuesday, a mock injection site will be opened to the public in the Tenderloin.