Bill: HB 281, 85(R) - 2017
Committee
House Criminal Jurisprudence
2nd Chamber Committee
Senate Criminal Justice
Vote Recommendation
| Vote Recommendation |
Economic Freedom |
Property Rights |
Personal Responsibility |
Limited Government |
Individual Liberty |
| Neutral |
Neutral |
Neutral |
Neutral |
Neutral |
Neutral |
Author(s)
Donna Howard
Co-Author(s)
Carol Alvarado
Cesar Blanco
Terry Canales
Bobby Guerra
Ryan Guillen
Ina Minjarez
Victoria Neave
Eddie Rodriguez
Jonathan Stickland
Bill Caption
Relating to establishing a statewide electronic tracking system for
evidence collection kits used to collect and preserve evidence of a
sex offense.
Bill Analysis
This bill would mandate that certain types of evidence, related to sex crimes, be collected and tracked in order to help law enforcement during these type of investigations. The tracking system that would be created must allow a survivor to anonymously track or receive
updates regarding the status and location of each item of evidence
collected in relation to the offense.
Vote Recommendation Notes
The goal of this legislation is to help improve the handling of evidence from the perspective of protecting the integrity of the evidence, tracking it through the process, and keeping victims up to date. Whether or not this would help reduce the backlog of unprocessed rape kits is open to speculation. With no basis to determine whether or how this would substantively improve the current system, we remain neutral.
