Senate Passes Bipartisan Legislation Cosponsored by Senator Hassan to Help Reduce National Rape Kit Backlog

WASHINGTON – Yesterday, the U.S. Senate passed bipartisan legislation cosponsored by Senator Maggie Hassan to help reduce the national rape kit backlog. The Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Reporting (SAFER) Act would reauthorize, strengthen, and extend the Sexual Assault Forensic Reporting program.

“The backlog of untested rape kits creates unacceptable delays in seeking justice for survivors of sexual assault and prosecuting perpetrators,” Senator Hassan said. “As survivors work to heal from this horrific crime, we must do more to support them and ensure that they do not face additional burdens while seeking justice. I encourage my colleagues in the House of Representatives to pass this legislation quickly and urge the president to sign it into law without delay.”

In addition to reauthorizing this program, the legislation would ensure that pediatric forensic nurses are eligible for training, highlighting the need for pediatric sexual assault nurse examiners in responding to children suffering from abuse. A one-page summary of the bill is available here.   

Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) were the authors of the Sexual Assault Forensic Reporting Act, a 2013 law creating the SAFER Program which has helped law enforcement reduce the rape kit backlog through existing funds under the Debbie Smith Act. The legislation increased the amount of these funds spent on untested kits by 35 percent and allowed 5-7 percent to be used on SAFER program audits. It helps state and local law enforcement agencies address both the laboratory and storage backlogs by providing funding to conduct one-year audits of untested sexual assault evidence, which has uncovered tens of thousands of untested rape kits on shelves and in labs across the nation. 

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