NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A bill headed to Governor Bill Lee's desk would require the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to provide quarterly updates on their efforts to hire and train forensic service workers, as well as the average amount of time it takes to process sexual assault evidence collection kits.
The bill, SB 0014, was introduced by Senator London Lamar (D - Memphis). Originally, the bill would have required TBI to process the kits within 30 days of receiving them from a law enforcement agency. Then, it was amended to only require the TBI to report information about their forensic analysis resources.
The TBI would be required to provide quarterly updates on their work to hire and train employees within the forensic sciences division. They would also need to report the average amount of time it takes to perform forensic analysis on evidence in cases involving sexual offenses until Jan. 1, 2025.
It also requires the bureau to submit a report about the additional resources and personnel that would be required for them to perform forensic analysis on kits within 60 days of receiving them. The report would need to be submitted to the judiciary and finance, ways and means committees of the Senate and other House of Representatives committees by Jan. 1, 2025.
A similar bill that was meant to speed up sexual assault evidence collection kit processing died in the House of Representatives. That bill, HB 0104, was introduced by Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D - Memphis). It included a requirement for the TBI to develop a plan with 45 days for clearing through a backlog of sexual assault evidence collection kits.
Catherine Oaks is the director of the Sexual Assault Center of East Tennessee (SACET). She said longer turnaround times for sexual assault kit means victims have to wait longer to move forward in their healing and criminal justice process.
Oaks and her team work with victims across 13 counties. SACET provides sexual assault kits and gathers forensic evidence. She said time plays a key role for the victim, and the quicker the kit is processed the quicker they receive justice.
"It's difficult to move forward in the healing process, and the criminal justice process, all of those things when you are waiting for such a lengthy time," she said.
In Tennessee, sexual assault includes rape and nonconsensual sexual contact.
TBI data shows it takes about 36 weeks -- around eight months -- to process one sexual assault kit from Knoxville. It's even longer in places like Jackson, at 40 weeks.
"A case may not move forward or may not have a decision on whether or not it's going to be prosecuted until the results from the rape kit come back," Oaks said.
Rejection of this bill from lawmakers came down to state funding, lawmakers said. It would have required the TBI to receive $5,299,000 for the fiscal year of 2023-2024. The money would have been used to build new lab space for more workers and lower turnaround time.