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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1478 FILED ON: 1/15/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2632 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Natalie M. Higgins and Bradley H. Jones, Jr. |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act relative to lawfully owed DNA. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Natalie M. Higgins4th Worcester1/15/2025Bradley H. Jones, Jr.20th Middlesex1/15/2025Lindsay N. Sabadosa1st Hampshire1/21/2025James B. EldridgeMiddlesex and Worcester2/11/2025James K. Hawkins2nd Bristol2/12/2025Kimberly N. Ferguson1st Worcester3/4/2025 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1478 FILED ON: 1/15/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2632 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representatives Higgins of Leominster and Jones of North Reading, a petition (accompanied |
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| 19 | 19 | | by bill, House, No. 2632) of Natalie M. Higgins, Bradley H. Jones, Jr. and others that the crime |
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| 20 | 20 | | laboratory within the Department of the State Police conduct an audit of offender DNA profiles |
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| 21 | 21 | | included on the state DNA databank system. Public Safety and Homeland Security. |
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| 22 | 22 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 23 | 23 | | SEE HOUSE, NO. 2342 OF 2023-2024.] |
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| 24 | 24 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 25 | 25 | | _______________ |
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| 26 | 26 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 27 | 27 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 28 | 28 | | _______________ |
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| 29 | 29 | | An Act relative to lawfully owed DNA. |
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| 30 | 30 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 31 | 31 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 32 | 32 | | 1 SECTION 1. The crime laboratory within the department of the state police shall conduct |
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| 33 | 33 | | 2an audit of offender DNA profiles included on the state DNA databank system in order to |
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| 34 | 34 | | 3identify the number DNA profiles that are missing from the databank which should have been |
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| 35 | 35 | | 4collected under section 3 of chapter 22E of the General Laws. The crime laboratory shall support |
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| 36 | 36 | | 5this effort as necessary to comply with report deadlines. |
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| 37 | 37 | | 6 The audit shall initiate with offender DNA samples that were required to be collected |
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| 38 | 38 | | 7under section 3 of chapter 22E of the General Laws. The audit shall include those offenders who |
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| 39 | 39 | | 8would have been covered under retroactive provisions of the law that require DNA samples from |
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| 40 | 40 | | 9persons, regardless of conviction date, as the statute provides. 2 of 2 |
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| 41 | 41 | | 10 A preliminary report including the overall number of estimated owed DNA samples shall |
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| 42 | 42 | | 11be reported to the legislature promptly upon completion of the initial audit, due to the significant |
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| 43 | 43 | | 12risk to public safety of any failed collections. The preliminary report should be provided without |
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| 44 | 44 | | 13delay, and no later than ninety days after enactment or December 15, 2025, whichever is soonest. |
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| 45 | 45 | | 14 A final report to further include additional details on types of offenses for which DNA |
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| 46 | 46 | | 15samples are owed, and an overview of where collection failures occurred shall be submitted no |
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| 47 | 47 | | 16later than December 15, 2025. Thereafter, an annual audit shall be completed and reported to the |
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| 48 | 48 | | 17Legislature no later than December 15 of each year. |
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