Sponsored by Reno Democratic Assemblywoman Teresa Benitez-Thompson and Democratic Senate majority leader Aaron Ford of Las Vegas, Assembly Bill 97 would require police to turn over rape kits to forensic labs within 30 days of receiving them.
It would also require those labs to test kits within 180 days of receiving them and submit annual reports to the legislature, though a proposed amendment would seek to eliminate that 180-day deadline.
Law enforcement groups say that deadline would hurt their ability to prioritize kits within the backlog.
Ford says that it is an “injustice” that many of these kits, go untested or are even lost.
The state says there are over 6,400 untested rape kits in Southern Nevada alone, some of which date back to the 1980s.