Florida Senate - 2025                             CS for SB 1072
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Fiscal Policy; and Senator McClain
       
       
       
       
       
       594-03708-25                                          20251072c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to an expedited DNA testing grant
    3         program; creating s. 943.328, F.S.; defining the term
    4         “private lab”; creating the Expedited DNA Testing
    5         Grant Program within the Department of Law
    6         Enforcement; specifying potential grant recipients;
    7         providing purposes for the grants under the program;
    8         specifying eligible uses for such grant funds;
    9         requiring each grant recipient to provide a report to
   10         the executive director of the department within a
   11         certain timeframe; specifying the required contents of
   12         the report; requiring the department to adopt rules;
   13         providing an effective date.
   14          
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16  
   17         Section 1. Section 943.328, Florida Statutes, is created to
   18  read:
   19         943.328 Expedited DNA Testing Grant Program.—
   20         (1) As used in this section, the term “private lab” means a
   21  DNA laboratory accredited pursuant to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 of the
   22  International Organization for Standardization and Federal
   23  Bureau of Investigation quality assurance standards or any
   24  laboratory deemed appropriate by the department.
   25         (2) There is created within the department the Expedited
   26  DNA Testing Grant Program to award grants to law enforcement
   27  agencies in the processing and testing of DNA samples.
   28         (3) The department shall annually award to law enforcement
   29  agencies any funds specifically appropriated for the grant
   30  program to cover processing and testing of DNA samples by
   31  private laboratories.
   32         (4) Grants may be used by a law enforcement agency:
   33         (a) When the technology or technique needed to process and
   34  test the evidence or DNA sample properly is not readily
   35  available at a local or state laboratory; or
   36         (b) When, in the agency’s judgment, justice is best served
   37  through expedited processing and testing of the evidence or
   38  sample.
   39         (5) Each grant recipient shall provide to the executive
   40  director a report no later than 1 year after receipt of funding
   41  under the grant program. The report must include all of the
   42  following information:
   43         (a) The amount of annual funding received.
   44         (b) The number of cases tested.
   45         (c) The type of DNA testing used, including the name of the
   46  laboratory to which such testing was outsourced, and the type of
   47  equipment used for the testing.
   48         (d) The result of the testing.
   49         (e) The average amount of time it took to make each such
   50  identification.
   51         (6) The department shall adopt rules to implement and
   52  administer this section and to establish the process for the
   53  allocation of grant funds.
   54         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.