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Bill Setting Time Limits For Testing Rape Kits Gets Governor's Approval

James Tourtellotte
/
Wikimedia Commons

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. 

Ryan Benk is a former WJCT News reporter who joined the station in 2015 after working as a news researcher and reporter for NPR affiliate WFSU in Tallahassee.