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Current FIRs (in HTML & Adobe PDF formats) are available on the NM Legislative Website (legis.state.nm.us).  Adobe PDF versions include all attachments, whereas HTML versions may not.  Previously issued FIRs and attachments may also be obtained from the LFC in Suite 101 of the State Capitol Building North.

 

 

F I S C A L    I M P A C T    R E P O R T

 

 

 

SPONSOR

King

DATE TYPED

02/02/04

HB

402

 

SHORT TITLE

Sexual Offense Evidence Testing

SB

 

 

 

ANALYST

Valenzuela

 

APPROPRIATION

 

Appropriation Contained

Estimated Additional Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY04

FY05

FY04

FY05

 

$450.0

 

 

Recurring

General fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

 

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act of $225 thousand in Section 5, Special Appropriations

 

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

 

§          “Department of Public Safety Budget Recommendation,” Report of the Legislative Finance      Committee to the 46th Legislature, January 2004, pp. 646 – 658.

 

Responses Received From

Department of Health

Department of Public Safety

 

SUMMARY

 

Synopsis of Bill

 

House Bill 402 appropriates $450 thousand from the general fund to Department of Public Safety for the purpose of eliminating the DNA backlog for criminal sexual offenses.

 

Significant Issues

 

Currently, the DPS crime laboratory has a significant backlog of sexual offense casework. The appropriation would provide funding so that the evidence could be processed at a privately funded laboratory on a contractual basis. This will expedite both criminal investigations by law enforcement and legal proceedings by the judicial system.

 

In the past, testing this evidence, without having a suspect’s ‘standard’ sample with which to compare the results, was not productive.  But with today’s capability to utilize FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the potential exists to identify assailants and to link serial crimes in ‘no-suspect’ cases where biological evidence exists. Without forensic analysis, many of these criminal investigations will remain unsolved, and perpetrators may be free to commit more crime. 

 

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

 

The appropriation of $450 thousand contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY05 shall revert to the general fund.

 

The Legislature appropriated $400 thousand from the general fund to the DPS crime laboratory for this purpose. DPS used $360 thousand of this funding to contract with two private laboratories to eliminate the backlog.

 

MFV/dm