Maine lawmakers renew push for rape kit tracking system, plus requiring backlog testing

Yahoo

26-02-2025

A photo of Leda Health's at-home sexual assault evidence collection kits. (via Leda Health)
In light of known backlogs of untested rape kits but in unknown numbers, a bipartisan group of lawmakers are pushing to establish a statewide tracking system that would also ensure survivors know the status of their kits.
Maine is one of few states without a statewide rape kit tracking system.
An effort to create one last year ultimately failed due to end of session procedural scuffles. Some counties recently received funding to create local systems, though recipients are concerned the money could be at risk of being cut by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
Last year, the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault received a $90,000 federal grant to fund a pilot program to track rape kits in Kennebec and Penobscot counties.
Separately, Cumberland County received a three-year $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to help with tracking rape kits. This grant is a first for the state under the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. The District Attorney's Office estimates that there are 500 untested kits in Cumberland County alone.
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget had listed the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, State Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions and Sexual Assault Forensic Exam Training and Services, among others, as programs whose funding would be freezed, before walking the widespread freeze back amid legal challenges.
'Given the uncertainty of federal grants and whether this funding will be released to Cumberland County, the state legislature should act now to ensure reform is funded and expeditiously implemented,' said Rebecca Boulos, executive director of Maine Public Health Association, the state's largest association for public health professionals.
Members of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee on Wednesday also heard another bipartisan proposal to get ahead of an issue cropping up around the country: companies marketing self-administered rape kits as a viable alternative to state forensic examinations.
They're not, prosecutors, law enforcement and lawmakers said, and instead weaken a survivor's path to justice.
Boulos testified in favor of a bill that would establish a statewide sexual assault forensic examination kit tracking system, LD 549, sponsored by Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford) and a group of bipartisan lawmakers.
Currently, 36 states and Washington D.C. have passed legislation calling for statewide inventories of such kits, commonly called 'rape kits.'
These preserve evidence left behind during an assault through a forensic medical examination, which typically takes four to six hours, that survivors can choose to undergo immediately after a sexual assault. DNA evidence from these kits can then be used to solve and prevent crimes.
The Legislature passed an earlier iteration of this bill last year, however LD 2129 failed to become law as it was among the dozens of bills Democratic Gov. Janet Mills refused to sign when they were sent to her desk after statutory adjournment.
'It was a really bitter pill,' said Rep. Valli Geiger (D-Rockland) of that outcome. Geiger sponsored LD 2129 and is the lead co-sponsor of the bill this session.
Because of the time that has now passed, this year's version is slightly different, Geiger explained. The bill last session aimed to create an inventory and tracking system. The legislation this session would do that but also require testing backlogged kits.
'When I was a 17-year-old college freshman,' Geiger said, 'I was invited to the dorm room of a fellow student, a cute boy with red hair and freckles. When I tried to leave, he slammed me up against a wall and sexually assaulted me.'
She did not seek out medical care. She did not report the assault. She did not tell anyone about it for fifteen years.
'I would like to say that in the 50 years since that assault happened that things have changed,' Geiger said. 'But I cannot.'
About 6,000 people call the Sexual Assault Hot Line annually in Maine. Roughly 400 Forensic Sexual Assault kits are requested from the Maine Crime Lab annually. Less than 20% of those kits are returned to the Crime Lab for testing.
'Why are so few requested? We don t know,' Geiger said. 'Why so few returned? We don't know. How many completed but untested kits are sitting in hospitals, police stations, rape crisis centers or district attorney offices? We don't know.'
Several recommendations from local and national groups preceded these legislative proposals.
Joyful Heart Foundation, a national advocacy group founded by 'Law & Order: SVU' actress Mariska Hargitay, has been instrumental in passing state-level rape kit reform. In 2016, the nonprofit published proposed reforms to help states address testing backlog and provide more transparency for survivors.
Maine is now the only state that hasn't adopted at least one of the reforms, Burcu Sagiroglu, policy and advocacy manager for the nonprofit, wrote in testimony submitted to the committee.
Additionally, through a state grant, the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault in partnership with the Muskie School of Public Policy completed a statewide study on the status of these kits in Maine. In 2018, those finding led to several recommendations, including creating a statewide rape kit tracking system, an inventory of untested kits and state funding for testing backlogged rape kits, among others.
If the bill is passed this year, by June 1, 2026, law enforcement agencies that receive or store kits would be required to complete an inventory of all kits in its possession and report those findings to the department, which would then be tasked with compiling that information and presenting a comprehensive report to the Legislature and governor by Jan. 1, 2027.
It would also call for testing backlogged kits.
Also by Jan. 1, 2027, and every five years after that, all completed kits that identify an alleged victim and are being stored by a law enforcement agency would be required to be transferred to the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory and processed on a rolling basis.
Some raised concern about how the rolling component would impact those who submit kits anonymously, specifically whether processing the information would threaten anonymity, and lawmakers floated the option of exempting anonymous kits.
Bennett, the bill sponsor, urged committee members to find a way to make the fiscal note for the bill as low as possible to make it more feasible to pass as an emergency measure outside the state budget. However, both Bennett and Geiger said reducing costs could be a challenge because the Maine Crime Lab already lacks physical space and the market for trained forensic examiners is tight.
The bill last session had a total cost of $349,572 for the biennium.
When this bill was presented last year, municipal officials asked police chiefs about the burden of a proposed indefinite hold on this type of sensitive material, but officials found that most law enforcement agencies already held onto rape kits indefinitely because of local policy, according to Rebecca Graham, who submitted testimony on behalf of the Maine Municipal Association.
'This process places no additional burden on municipal police,' she said. 'However, the current process and lack of centralized data does impede the ability of victims to locate which agency is holding their kit or for an agency to assist a victim.'
Jason Moen, chief of the Auburn Police Department and the President of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association, echoed this point in his testimony in support of the bill, which he said would strengthen Maine's enforcement of sexual assault laws.
'Victims of sexual assault have experienced unimaginable harm,' Moen said. 'We want to ensure that these survivors can easily access real-time data about the status of their own kits, while also getting valuable data statewide on the journey of these kits as they move from healthcare facilities to law enforcement agencies and eventually to the state crime lab.'
Like the bill sponsor's, Moen cautioned that the Maine Crime Lab will need adequate funding to make this work feasible.
'The worst thing that could happen to sexual assault survivors is provide an unrealistic expectation that they will have reliable access to their kits, only to have processing stalled due to the lack of needed supports for the Crime Lab to carry out this mission,' Moen said.
LD 412, proposed by Rep. Ellie Sato (D-Gorham), would prohibit the sale and distribution of self-administered rape kits as a violation of the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act.
'First and foremost, this bill is a consumer protection issue,' Sato told the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
These kits are rarely, if ever, admissible in court, all those who testified said, due to chain of custody issues and other collection errors likely to occur because survivors do not have the training and skills required of sexual assault forensic examiners.
'This is a prosecutor's nightmare,' Shira Burns from the Maine Prosecutors Association said of the self-administered kits.
These kits also do not offer emergency medical care that may be needed when a sexual assault occurs, such as treatment or monitoring after strangulation, Sato added.
Maryland and Washington have passed similar bills banning these kits. One of the companies that sell these kits, Leda, challenged Washington's ban but the law was upheld in federal court.
Rep. David Sinclair (D-Bath) said he was worried about survivors in service deserts, arguably much of the rural state, and questioned whether it would be better to regulate these kits rather than prohibit them.
'While it's true that many survivors face barriers to seeking professional forensic exams, whether due to distance, fear of law enforcement or personal trauma, these kits do not resolve those challenges,' said Senate President Mattie Daughtry (D-Brunswick), one of the bill co-sponsors. 'In fact, they add new risks. The evidence collected is not legally admissible, or properly preserved, unknowingly weakening their case.'
Instead, Daughty, Burns and others argued Maine should focus more on expanding the capacity of procedures proven effective.
'We keep putting the criminal justice system on the back of the victims,' Burns said. 'We need to stop and start going the other way.'
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