State House lawmakers voted unanimously Wednesday in Olympia to pass legislation (House Bill 1166) addressing the backlog of more than 8,000 rape kits in police custody.
“Our state has been moving in the right direction to support survivors, but we are still behind other states, like Oregon and Ohio, on clearing our backlog,” said bill sponsor Rep. Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines, in a news release. “This bill is about lifting up the voices of survivors and providing law enforcement with the tools they need to finally hold these violent predators accountable.”
Throughout her tenure at the Legislature, Orwall has championed bills supporting survivors of sexual violence. In 2015, the Legislature passed her measure mandating testing of all current and backlogged rape kits, some of which had been sitting in evidence untested for over two decades.
Under her leadership, Washington became the first state in the nation to create an online statewide tracking system for survivors to check testing status of kits in 2016.
The 2019 legislation creates a Survivor Bill of Rights, requires law enforcement undergo specialized trauma informed training and prohibits the destruction of untested rape kits.
Under the Bill of Rights, survivors would no longer have to provide monetary compensation to hospitals for testing of their own rape kits.
HB 1166 will now move to the Senate for consideration.
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