Florida Senate - 2025 SB 1072 By Senator McClain 9-01474-25 20251072__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to an expedited DNA testing grant 3 program; creating s. 943.328, F.S.; defining the term 4 “private lab”; creating the Expedited DNA Testing 5 Grant Program within the Department of Law 6 Enforcement; specifying potential grant recipients; 7 providing purposes for the grants under the program; 8 specifying eligible uses for such grant funds; 9 requiring each grant recipient to provide a report to 10 the executive director of the department within a 11 certain timeframe; specifying the required contents of 12 the report; requiring the department to adopt rules; 13 providing an effective date. 14 15 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 16 17 Section 1. Section 943.328, Florida Statutes, is created to 18 read: 19 943.328 Expedited DNA Testing Grant Program.— 20 (1) As used in this section, the term “private lab” means a 21 DNA laboratory accredited pursuant to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 of the 22 International Organization for Standardization and Federal 23 Bureau of Investigation quality assurance standards. 24 (2) There is created within the department the Expedited 25 DNA Testing Grant Program to award grants to law enforcement 26 agencies in the processing and testing of DNA samples. 27 (3) The department shall annually award to law enforcement 28 agencies any funds specifically appropriated for the grant 29 program to cover processing and testing of DNA samples by 30 private laboratories. 31 (4) Grants may be used by a law enforcement agency: 32 (a) When the technology or technique needed to process and 33 test the evidence or DNA sample properly is not readily 34 available at a local or state laboratory; or 35 (b) When, in the agency’s judgment, justice is best served 36 through expedited processing and testing of the evidence or 37 sample. 38 (5) Each grant recipient shall provide to the executive 39 director a report no later than 1 year after receipt of funding 40 under the grant program. The report must include all of the 41 following information: 42 (a) The amount of annual funding received. 43 (b) The number of cases tested. 44 (c) The type of DNA testing used, including the name of the 45 laboratory to which such testing was outsourced, and the type of 46 equipment used for the testing. 47 (d) The result of the testing. 48 (e) The average amount of time it took to make each such 49 identification. 50 (6) The department shall adopt rules to implement and 51 administer this section and to establish the process for the 52 allocation of grant funds. 53 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.