“A bill to provide additional funding to States that provide certain rights to sexual assault survivors, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section revises the tiered funding incentives for states under sec. 5903(a) of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for FY2023 (34 U.S.C. 10441 note)—which provides grant increases through the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program—to allocate funds as follows: (1) 60% to states with a law providing sexual assault survivors' rights under 18 U.S.C. 3772 (i.e., rights to free medical forensic exams; evidence kit preservation, notification, and status updates; and notification of results); (2) 25% to states with any combination of laws, regulations, practices, or policies providing those rights; and (3) 15% to states with substantially similar combinations (with states eligible for only one tier). This section also amends 18 U.S.C. 3772(a)(2)(A) to require preservation of a sexual assault evidence collection kit (i.e., rape kit) or its probative contents, without charge, for not less than 20 years (from the duration of the maximum applicable statute of limitations or 20 years, whichever is shorter). Finally, this section amends 18 U.S.C. 3772(a)(3) to allow a survivor to request—without requiring a writing—(A) written notification at least 60 days before intended destruction or disposal of a kit and (B) further preservation of the kit or its contents.