Georgia CommonsHB 518: Sexual Assault Reform Act of 2025; enact
Comm Sub version, the latest LegiScan holds · Last action April 4, 2025 · Introduced
The text as LegiScan holds it, read from the PDF the legislature publishes with its margin line numbers, running heads, and page footers removed. Line breaks are joined into paragraphs here; no word is changed.
Underlined words are what the bill adds to current law and struck-through words are what it removes, as the printed bill shows them.
The House Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security offers the following substitute to HB 518:
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Chapter 5 of Title 17 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to searches and seizures, so as to prohibit the sale of over-the-counter sexual assault evidence kits; to provide for violation and penalty; to provide for definitions; to amend Title 35 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to law enforcement officers and agencies, so as to provide for the creation of the Forensic Medical Examination Advisory Committee; to provide for composition; to provide for rules; to provide for training protocols regarding forensic medical examinations; to provide for forensic testing; to provide a short title; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
This Act shall be known and may be cited as the "Sexual Assault Reform Act of 2025."
SECTION 2.
Chapter 5 of Title 17 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to searches and seizures, is amended by revising Code Section 17-5-74, relating to unreported sexual assault kits, definitions, state-wide tracking system, requirements, implementation, reporting, jurisdiction, liability, and regulatory authority, as follows:
"17-5-74.
(a) For the purposes of As used in this Code section, the term:
(1) 'Over-the-counter sexual assault evidence kit' means a sexual assault forensic exam kit or rape kit that:
(A) Is marketed or presented as a do-it-yourself, over-the-counter, at-home, or self-collected early evidence kit;
(B) Is offered for sale or as a sample to members of the public; and
(C) Purports to allow an individual to independently collect evidence of a sexual assault outside of a collecting facility.
(2) 'Unreported' 'unreported' sexual assault kit' means a sexual assault kit collected from a victim who has consented to the collection of the sexual assault kit but who has not reported the alleged crime to law enforcement.
(b) The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council shall create and operate a state-wide sexual assault kit tracking system. The council may contract with state or nonstate entities including, but not limited to, private software and technology providers, for the creation, operation, and maintenance of the system.
(c) The state-wide sexual assault kit tracking system shall:
(1) Track the location and status of sexual assault kits throughout the criminal justice process, including the initial collection in sexual assault forensic examinations performed at medical facilities, receipt and storage at law enforcement agencies, receipt and analysis at forensic laboratories, and storage and any destruction after completion of analysis;
(2) Designate sexual assault kits as an unreported sexual assault kit or as a reported sexual assault kit;
(3) Allow medical facilities performing sexual assault forensic examinations, law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, the Division of Forensic Sciences of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and other entities having custody of sexual assault kits to update and track the status and location of sexual assault kits;
(4) Allow victims of sexual assault to anonymously track or receive updates regarding the status of their sexual assault kits; and
(5) Use electronic technology or technologies allowing continuous access.
(d) The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council may use a phased implementation process in order to launch the sexual assault kit tracking system and facilitate entry and use of the system for required participants. The council may phase initial participation according to region, volume, or other appropriate classifications. All law enforcement agencies and other entities having custody of sexual assault kits shall register for and utilize the system in order to fully participate no later than July 1, 2022. The council shall submit a report on the current status and plan for launching the system, including the plan for phased implementation, to the appropriate committees of the legislature and the Governor no later than January 1, 2022.
(e) The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council shall submit a report on the state-wide sexual assault kit tracking system to the appropriate committees of the legislature and the Governor. The council shall publish the current report on its website. The first report shall be submitted on or before December 31, 2022, and subsequent reports are to be submitted on or before December 31 of each year. Each report shall include the following:
(1) The number of sexual assault kits used by collection sites to conduct forensic medical examinations of assault victims;
(2) Of the sexual assault kits used by collection sites to conduct forensic medical examinations, the number of sexual assault kits for which a sexual assault has been reported to law enforcement, sorted by law enforcement agency;
(3) The average time for each law enforcement agency to collect reported sexual assault kits from collection sites;
(4) Of the sexual assault kits generated for reported cases, the number of sexual assault kits submitted to a laboratory for forensic testing;
(5) Of the sexual assault kits submitted for forensic testing, the number of kits for which forensic testing has been completed;
(6) The number of sexual assault kits for which a sexual assault has not been reported to law enforcement; and
(7) The jurisdictions in which reported sexual assault kits have not been submitted to the Division of Forensic Services Sciences of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in accordance with Code Section 35-1-2.
(f) For the purpose of reports submitted under subsection (e) of this Code section, a sexual assault kit shall be assigned to the jurisdiction associated with the law enforcement agency anticipated to receive the sexual assault kit or otherwise having custody of the sexual assault kit.
(g) Any public agency or entity, including its officials and employees, and any hospital and its employees providing services to victims of sexual assault shall not be held civilly liable for damages arising from any release of information or the failure to release information related to the state-wide sexual assault kit tracking system, so long as the release was without gross negligence.
(h) The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council shall adopt rules as necessary to implement this Code section.
(i) An over-the-counter sexual assault evidence kit does not include a sexual assault kit sold or provided to law enforcement or medical personnel or a collecting facility. A person may not sell, offer for sale, or provide to an individual an over-the-counter sexual assault evidence kit. A violation of this subsection is a misdemeanor punishable by fine not to exceed $1,000.00."
SECTION 3.
Title 35 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to law enforcement officers and agencies, is amended by revising subsections (c), (e), (f), and (g) of Code Section 35-1-2, relating to examination of sexual assault victims and reports, as follows: "(c) It shall be the duty of every law enforcement officer who takes possession of the evidence as provided in subsection (b) of this Code section to ensure that such evidence is submitted to the division for testing within 30 days of it being collected, in accordance with the procedures established by the division. The division shall test evidence received in compliance with this section, unless the victim requests in writing directly to the division that the evidence not be tested."
"(e) It shall be the duty of every law enforcement agency to create a list of evidence resulting from a forensic medical examination that is in such agency's possession on August 1, 2016, identifying such evidence as needing to be tested and submitting such listing of information to the division by August 15, 2016.
(f)(e) A failure to comply with the provisions of this Code section shall not affect the admissibility of evidence collected from a forensic medical examination. (g)(f) Beginning December 1, 2016, the division shall issue an annual report detailing the number of cases for which it has tested evidence pursuant to this Code section and the number of cases that are awaiting testing. Such report shall be provided to the executive counsel of the Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Lieutenant Governor President of the Senate, the members of the House Committee on Judiciary, Non-civil,; the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee,; the House Committee on Public and Community Health; and Human Services, and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee; and posted online at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's public website."
SECTION 4.
Said title is further amended by adding a new Code section to read as follows:
"35-6A-18.
(a) There is created the Forensic Medical Examination Advisory Committee which shall be composed of 13 members.
(b) The members of the committee shall be the State Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner
(SANE) Coordinator and 12 other citizens of this state appointed by the Governor. Of the members appointed by the Governor, four shall be registered nurses who hold certification in forensic nursing, one shall be a representative from the Georgia Board of Nursing, one shall be a representative from the Georgia Nurses Association, two shall be licensed providers under Georgia law who are advanced practitioners, one shall be a peace officer certified by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, one shall be a prosecuting attorney, one shall be employed by the Division of Forensic Sciences of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and one shall be a victims' rights advocate. The Governor shall make the initial appointments not later than July 1, 2025, and shall appoint three members for a one-year term of office, three members for two-year terms of office, three members for three-year terms of office, and three members for four-year terms of office, which shall be specified in each member's appointment. Thereafter, successors shall be appointed to four-year terms of office. Vacancies shall be filled by appointment of the Governor for the unexpired term. Initial terms of office shall begin on July 1, 2025.
(c) The committee shall establish by rule and regulation criteria for the SANE didactic and clinical training protocols for the forensic medical examination and maintain certificates for forensic nurses in the state. The training protocols shall be consistent with best practice as defined by the national organizations and uphold nurse practice standards as regulated by the Georgia Board of Nursing. To receive the state certificate, the registered nurse must complete a Criminal Justice Coordinating Council approved SANE didactic and clinical training and submit the required documents required by the protocol as set forth by the committee. Forensic nurses with sexual assault nurse training who begin practice in this state on or after August 1, 2025, shall have until January 1, 2026, to apply for the state certificate. Nurses entering the state on or after August 1, 2025, and who intend to practice as a sexual assault nurse examiner shall apply for the state certificate prior to beginning practice as a sexual assault nurse examiner. The Victims Compensation Division of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council shall have the authority to make exceptions for any reimbursement for the SANE examination by rule or regulation.
(d) On and after October 1, 2025, persons or organizations that provide sexual assault nurse examiner training in this state shall register and receive approval from the Forensic Medical Examination Advisory Committee prior to offering such training. Such persons or organizations shall submit the locations and dates of the proposed training and the training content for all adult/adolescent and pediatric didactic and clinical training for approval by the Forensic Medical Examination Advisory Committee. Such persons or organizations shall report to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council on completed training with such information and in such manner as directed by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.
(e) Approvals for trainings made by the Forensic Medical Examination Advisory Committee and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council shall adhere to the established rules as set forth by the committee protocol. The committee shall also act as an advisory committee to assist the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council in developing best practice recommendations for forensic medical examiners in this state."
SECTION 5.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.