[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3541 Introduced in House (IH)]
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115th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3541
To reauthorize the SAFER Act of 2013, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 28, 2017
Mr. Poe of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To reauthorize the SAFER Act of 2013, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence
Reporting Act of 2017'' or the ``SAFER Act of 2017''.
SEC. 2. BEST PRACTICES FOR RAPE KIT RETENTION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT
FORENSIC EVIDENCE FOR UNSOLVED CRIMES.
(a) In General.--Section 414 of the Justice for All Act of 2004 (42
U.S.C. 14136f) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1)--
(i) by inserting ``and the Director of the
Bureau of Justice Assistance'' after
``Justice''; and
(ii) by striking ``and government'' and
inserting ``, government''; and
(iii) by inserting ``and other national and
State subject matter experts,'' before
``shall''; and
(B) in paragraph (1)--
(i) by inserting ``and encourage compliance
with'' after ``establish''; and
(ii) by inserting ``connected to cases in
which no person is currently convicted,
including best practices for the preservation
of sexual assault evidence collection kits or
their probative contents for unsolved cases''
before the semicolon at the end;
(2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following:
``(b) Deadlines.--The Director of the National Institute of Justice
and the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance shall--
``(1) not later than December 31, 2018, publish the best
practices established under subsection (a)(1); and
``(2) not later than 5 years after the date on which the
best practices are established under subsection (a)(1), and
once every 5 years thereafter, conduct a review of the best
practices, and update the best practices as necessary.''; and
(3) in subsection (c), by inserting ``, except as otherwise
required under section 3772 of title 18, United States Code''
before the period at the end.
(b) Sexual Assault Survivors' Rights.--Section 3772(a)(2)(A) of
title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking ``subject to
paragraph (3),''.
SEC. 3. PEDIATRIC SEXUAL ASSAULT NURSE EXAMINERS.
Section 304(c)(2) of the DNA Sexual Assault Justice Act of 2004 (42
U.S.C. 14136a) is amended--
(1) by inserting ``, both adult and pediatric,'' after
``role of forensic nurses''; and
(2) by striking ``and elder abuse'' and inserting ``elder
abuse, and, in particular, the need for pediatric sexual
assault nurse examiners, including such nurse examiners working
in the multidisciplinary setting, in responding to abuse of
both children and adolescents''.
SEC. 4. PROSECUTION OF DNA COLD CASES.
(a) Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program.--Section 2 of the DNA
Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following:
``(9) To increase the capacity of State and local
prosecution offices to address the backlog of violent crime
cases in which suspects have been identified through DNA
evidence.''; and
(2) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the following:
``(5) Allocation of grant awards for prosecutors.--For each
fiscal year, not less than 5 percent, but not more than 7
percent, of the grant amounts distributed under paragraph (1)
shall, if sufficient applications to justify such amounts are
received by the Attorney General, be awarded for purposes
described in subsection (a)(9), provided that none of the funds
required to be distributed under this paragraph shall decrease
or otherwise limit the availability of funds required to be
awarded to States or units of local government under paragraph
(3).''.
(b) Justice for All Reauthorization Act of 2016.--Section 3(a) of
the Justice for All Reauthorization Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-324;
130 Stat. 1949) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(3) not less than 5 percent, but not more than 7 percent,
of such amounts shall be provided for grants for prosecutors to
increase the capacity of State and local prosecution offices to
address the backlog of violent crime cases in which suspects
have been identified through DNA evidence.''.
SEC. 5. REDUCING THE RAPE KIT BACKLOG.
(a) Reauthorization.--Section 2(c)(4) of the DNA Analysis Backlog
Elimination Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135(c)(4)) is amended by striking
``2017'' and inserting ``2022''.
(b) Repeal of Sunset.--
(1) In general.--Section 1006 of the SAFER Act of 2013 (42
U.S.C. 14135 note) is repealed.
(2) Technical and conforming amendment.--The table of
contents for the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of
2013 (Public Law 113-4; 127 Stat. 54) is amended by striking
the item relating to section 1006.
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