ATLANTA — Atlanta Rep. Scott Holcomb introduced a bill to create a statewide sexual assault kit tracking system and reform the process in Georgia for sexual assault and rape investigations.
“This legislation builds upon the bipartisan efforts we’ve implemented over the last decade. Ultimately, my goal is to reduce the incidence of sexual violence in Georgia,” Holcomb said about the bill.
Here’s what it’ll do:
The Sexual Assault Reform Act of 2025 was filed to create the Forensic Medical Examination Advisory Committee and to make new rules and training protocols for forensic medical examinations and testing.
The new rules include a more in-depth system for tracking and maintaining evidence from sexual assault kits and making the status available to check anonymously for victims of sexual assault who submit kits for testing.
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According to House Bill 518, “The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council shall create and operate a state-wide sexual assault kit tracking system. The council may contract with state or out-of-state entities including, but not limited to, private software and technology providers, for the creation, operation, and maintenance of the system.”
Holcomb’s proposal would require that all evidence submitted from a sexual assault kit be submitted to law enforcement officers for investigation within 30 days of being collected and the evidence must be received in compliance with the proposed law, unless victims request in writing to not test the evidence.
The committee would also be charged with creating training protocols and regulations for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners to be trained and certified, including forensic exam and clinical training protocols.
The bill’s proposal to create an examination committee would have 12 members appointed by the Georgia governor and must include four registered nurses with certification in forensic nursing. Additionally, one must be a representative from the Georgia Board of Nursing, one must be from the Georgia Nurses Association and two must be licensed providers who are advanced practitioners.
Other members of the proposed committee would include a Peace Officer Standards and Training certified officer, a prosecuting attorney, an employee of the Division of Forensic Sciences of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and one victims’ rights advocate, as well as four others. Appointments would last for various term lengths, depending on position, and vacancies would be filled by appointment of the governor.
The committee would also have to report on the average time each law enforcement agency in Georgia takes to collect sexual assault kits from reported sexual assaults, the number of kits generated for reported cases and the number of kits that have been tested.
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The jurisdictions where sexual assaults were reported but kits have not been submitted for testing to the Division of Forensic Sciences of the GBI would also have to be tracked and reported.
The reports would be provided to the executive counsel of the Governor, the Georgia Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, members of the House and Senate’s judiciary committees, the House Committee on Public and Community Health and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
The reports would also have to be published on the GBI’s public website and it must include the number of sexual assault kits tested in the same year as well as the number awaiting testing.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation reported in December that there were 2,298 assault kits tested from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024.
The same data set from the GBI said there were 480 kits still awaiting testing as of June 30, 2024 and for kits submitted before 1999, there were evidence kits from “1,612 cases have been identified that need DNA analysis based on a review by the GBI Crime Laboratory and requests from law enforcement or prosecuting agencies. 837 cases were tested as of June 30, 2024.”
The legislation would also ban selling over-the-counter sexual assault evidence kits, adding an up to $1,000 fine or violations.
So far, HB 518 has no co-sponsors in the Georgia House, but was on the agenda for the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee in the House on Wednesday.
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