The Debbie Smith Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives

Washington DC - Yesterday, The United States House of Representatives unanimously passed the Debbie Smith Act (2023). Congressman Wesley Hunt (TX-38) was an original Co-Lead on this bill.

H.R. 1105, the Debbie Smith Act of 2023, would reauthorize the DNA Backlog Elimination Program from FY2024 through FY2029. This program provides support to law enforcement and crime labs in all 50 states to analyze untested rape and sexual assault kits, improve law enforcement’s timely collection of DNA evidence, and enhance prosecutors' capacity to bring this evidence to trial.

Since it was first enacted in 2004, this program has directly supported the analysis of over 1.79 million DNA cases, resulting in more than 308,000 hits in the federal DNA criminal database—representing 56% of all DNA matches.

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