This amendment, which is the minority report of the committee, adds a mandate preamble to the bill and removes the requirement that, beginning January 1, 2027, and every 5 years thereafter, all completed forensic examination kits for which a victim of sexual assault has reported the alleged offense to a law enforcement agency must be transported to the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory and be analyzed on a rolling basis, beginning with kits most recently stored. The amendment also removes the provisions of the bill requiring establishment of a process for a victim of sexual assault who has not reported the alleged offense to a law enforcement agency to sign a consent form requiring analysis of the kit by the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory. The amendment instead requires the analysis by a crime laboratory of all forensic examination kits completed after January 1, 2027 if a victim of sexual assault reports that alleged offense to a law enforcement agency either by the time the forensic examination is complete or during the storage period of that kit unless the victim specifically requests that the kit not be analyzed. The amendment makes technical changes to the bill to add clarity, including by clarifying that a completed forensic examination kit may be processed by either the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory located in Augusta or another accredited laboratory that provides forensic services to law enforcement agencies for the purpose of analyzing forensic examination kits. The amendment also adds an appropriations and allocations section. FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED (See attached) COMMITTEE AMENDMENT

Statutes affected:
Bill Text LD 549, SP 199: 24.2986, 25.3821