Florida Governor Rick Scott has signed into law a bill requiring police to send rape kits to crime labs for testing within 120 days of collecting the evidence.
Close to $11 million of the state’s $80 billion budget is earmarked to help ease Florida’s rape-kit backlog.
There are currently more than 9,000 untested sexual-assault kits that need to be processed by state crime labs, according to January study conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Outgoing Rep. Janet Adkins (R-Fernandina Beach) sponsored the legislation speeding up the testing process.
