AN ACT CONCERNING THE ANALYSIS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT EVIDENCE BY LABORATORIES. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:


          Substitute House Bill No. 5320
          Substitute House Bill No. 5320

               PUBLIC ACT NO. 98-24


AN  ACT  CONCERNING THE ANALYSIS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT
EVIDENCE BY LABORATORIES.


    Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and House of
Representatives in General Assembly convened:
    Section  19a-112a  of the general statutes, as
amended by section 2  of  public  act  97-257,  is
repealed  and the following is substituted in lieu
thereof:
    (a)  There  is  created  a  Commission  on the
Standardization of the Collection of  Evidence  in
Sexual Assault Investigations composed of thirteen
members as follows: The Chief State's Attorney  or
his   designee;  the  executive  director  of  the
Permanent Commission on the Status of Women or her
designee; the Commissioner of Public Health or his
designee;  the  Commissioner   of   Children   and
Families  or  his  designee;  one  member from the
Division of State Police and one member  from  the
state  police  forensic  science  laboratory to be
appointed by the Commissioner  of  Public  Safety;
one  member from Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis
Services, Inc. to be appointed  by  its  board  of
directors;   one   member   from  the  Connecticut
Hospital  Association  to  be  appointed  by   the
president   of   the  association;  one  emergency
physician  appointed  by  the  president  of   the
Connecticut  College  of Emergency Physicians; one
obstetrician-gynecologist and one pediatrician  to
be  appointed  by the president of the Connecticut
State Medical Society; one nurse to  be  appointed
by   the  president  of  the  Connecticut  Nurses'
Association;  and  one  emergency  nurse   to   be
appointed   by  the  president  of  the  Emergency
Nurses'  Association  of  Connecticut.  The  Chief
State's Attorney or his designee shall be chairman
of the commission. The commission shall be  within
the    Division    of    Criminal    Justice   for
administrative purposes only.
    (b)  For  purposes  of this section "protocol"
means  the  state  of  Connecticut   health   care
facility  protocol  for  victims of sexual assault
which shall  consist  of  regulations  adopted  in
accordance  with this subsection pertaining to the
collection of evidence in any sex  offense  crime.
The commission shall recommend the protocol to the
Chief State's Attorney for adoption as regulations
in  accordance  with the provisions of chapter 54.
Said regulations shall be adopted not  later  than
July  31,  1997.  The  commission  shall  annually
review the protocol  and  may  annually  recommend
changes   to   the   protocol   for   adoption  as
regulations.
    (c)  The  commission  shall  design  a  sexual
assault evidence collection kit and  may  annually
recommend  changes in the kit to the Chief State's
Attorney. Each kit shall include  instructions  on
the  proper use of the kit, standardized reporting
forms, standardized tests which shall be performed
if   the   victim  so  consents  and  standardized
receptacles for the collection and preservation of
evidence. The commission shall provide the kits to
all health care facilities in the state  at  which
evidence  collection examinations are performed at
no cost to such health care facilities.
    (d)  Each  health  care  facility in the state
which  provides  for  the  collection  of   sexual
assault  evidence  shall  follow  the  protocol as
described in subsection (b) of this  section  and,
with  the  consent  of  the  victim, shall collect
sexual assault evidence. The health care  facility
shall  contact  a  police  department  which shall
transfer evidence collected pursuant to subsection
(b)  of  this  section, in a manner that maintains
the integrity of the  evidence,  to  [either]  the
state police forensic science laboratory, [or] the
Department of Public Health toxicology  laboratory
OR THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION LABORATORY.
The laboratory that receives such  evidence  shall
hold  that  evidence  for  sixty  days  after such
collection, except that, if the victim reports the
sexual  assault  to the police, the evidence shall
be analyzed upon request of the police  department
that  transferred  the evidence to such laboratory
and held by the laboratory  or  police  department
until the conclusion of any criminal proceedings.
    (e)   No  costs  incurred  by  a  health  care
facility for the  examination  of  the  victim  of
sexual   assault,  when  such  an  examination  is
performed for the purposes of  gathering  evidence
as   prescribed   in  the  protocol  described  in
subsection (b) of this section, shall  be  charged
directly  or  indirectly  to  the  victim  of such
assault. Any such cost shall  be  charged  to  the
Division of Criminal Justice.
    (f)  The  commission  shall  advise  the Chief
State's  Attorney  on  the  establishment   of   a
mandatory   training   program   for  health  care
facility staff regarding the implementation of the
regulations,  the  use  of the evidence collection
kit and procedures for handling evidence.
    (g)  The  commission  shall  advise  the Chief
State's Attorney not later than July 1,  1997,  on
the  development  of  a  sexual  assault  examiner
program   and   annually   thereafter    on    the
implementation and effectiveness of such program.

Approved April 29, 1998