17-05-2025
Alaska House votes to streamline Alaska's sexual assault kit tracking system
Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, speaks in favor of House Bill 62 on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
The Alaska House voted to advance a bill that would establish a statewide tracking system for sexual assault examination kits, expedite processing times, and ensure that survivors can privately monitor the status of their own kit.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy proposed the legislation, House Bill 62, and the House passed the bill on Friday with a vote of 39 to 0. One member, Rep. Rebecca Schwanke, R-Glennallen, was absent.
Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage and chair of the House Judiciary Committee spoke in support of the bill on the House floor on Friday.
'House Bill 62 is a vital step toward strengthening Alaska's response to sexual assault,' he said. 'Currently, there's no legally required timeline for when health care providers must notify law enforcement after completing a kit. House Bill 62 corrects this.'
If passed, the legislation would set more expedient timelines for processing sexual assault examination kits, which is a collection of physical evidence that can be used in criminal prosecution. Health care providers would have to notify law enforcement that a kit is ready for forensic testing within 14 days. The law enforcement agency would then have to submit the kit for forensic testing also within 14 days, down from 30 days. The lab would have to test the kit within 120 days, down from 180 days or six months.
Alaska law enforcement has made major progress on a statewide backlog in testing sexual assault examination kits in recent years, and Gray urged support for the bill to continue that positive trend. 'Supported by advocacy groups, medical professionals and public safety officials, this bill is the result of a statewide collaboration,' he said. 'With the backlog of untested kits now behind us, House Bill 62 ensures that we never have a backlog again.'
The legislation would also create a tracking system for survivors to privately monitor their own forensic kit through the testing process. David Kanaris, chief of the scientific crime detection laboratory in the Department of Public Safety testified before lawmakers in February that this was a major priority for the department.
'Doing this previously had to be done through them contacting a law enforcement agency,' he said of kit tracking. 'Which can be a traumatic experience in itself for the victim-survivor, and so allowing them to do it at their own pace through the kit tracking system was huge for us.'
The state already has a tracking system in place, supported by grant funding, according to the department, and the bill would provide that the state maintain the system, at an estimated cost of $200,000 per year.
With just five days left in the legislative session, the Alaska Senate is likely to take up the bill next year.
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