52:17B-245 Survey of untested sexual assault examination kits.

1. a. The Attorney General, in consultation with the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, shall develop a survey concerning the sexual assault examination kits in the possession of law enforcement agencies in this State that have not been submitted to a laboratory approved by the Attorney General for serology or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing. The survey shall be distributed to and completed by every law enforcement agency in the State which is responsible for the collection, storage, and maintenance of sexual assault examination kits.

b. The survey shall include, but not be limited to, questions designed to elicit responsive information concerning: agency policies and procedures governing the submission of sexual assault examination kits to an approved forensic laboratory for testing, including specific submission criteria, timelines, and victim notifications; agency policies and procedures for logging, tracking, and storing sexual assault examination kits; descriptive, statistical, and other relevant information about the sexual assault examination kits currently in the agency's possession; and any other information the Attorney General deems appropriate.

c. The Attorney General shall distribute the survey developed pursuant to this section to all law enforcement agencies in this State, which shall submit responses in a timely manner.

d. The Attorney General shall prepare a report summarizing the information contained in the responses to the survey, provided, however, that the report shall not contain any personal or identifying information about any victim. The Attorney General shall submit the report to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature.

L.2019, c.168.