Grant Money Announced For Rape Kit DNA Test Backlog

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Tuesday announced a new grant program that provides funds for cities and counties to help conduct audits of their untested sexual assault evidence kits. The Untested Sexual Assault Evidence Grants are intended to assist agencies to achieve the goal of determining the number of untested sexual assault evidence kits throughout California. A total of $1 million is available to facilitate the grant program.

In September, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 3118 by Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco), which requires every law enforcement agency, medical facility, crime laboratory, and other specified facilities, to conduct an audit of all untested sexual assault evidence kits in their possession and report to the California Department of Justice (DOJ) no later than July 1, 2019. Earlier this year, DOJ was allocated $1 million through the state budget for grants available to cities and counties to count the number of untested sexual assault evidence kits in their possession.

Local government agencies must submit applications to the DOJ by December 14, 2018.

Additional information on application requirements and eligibility criteria is available at: https://oag.ca.gov/usaeg.