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S 715

Establishes the Long Island transportation account

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick and 2 co-sponsors

Requires the NJ AG to create a statewide, internet-based tracking system for sexual assault kits, letting victims and authorities monitor a kit from collection to disposition.

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Bill Summary · S 715

Summary — S 715: Establishes a sexual assault forensic evidence (SAFE) kit tracking system

Note: The documents supplied include inconsistent metadata (references to other titles, jurisdictions, and sponsors). The substantive bill text and committee reports supplied are for a New Jersey statute that requires the Attorney General to establish a statewide sexual assault forensic evidence kit tracking system. This summary focuses on that enacted measure and the related fiscal analysis.

Main purpose

Require the New Jersey Attorney General to establish a statewide, internet‑based tracking system for sexual assault forensic evidence kits (commonly called “rape kits” or SAFE kits) so victims, law enforcement, health care providers, and other authorized users can monitor a kit’s location and status through the chain of custody from collection to final disposition.

Key provisions

  • Attorney General duty: The Attorney General must establish the statewide SAFE kit tracking system and issue guidelines or a directive to implement it.
  • Definition: A “sexual assault forensic evidence kit tracking system” is an internet‑based system that enables a victim; State, county, or municipal law enforcement officers; employees of healthcare facilities or laboratories (as the AG deems appropriate); and any other person the AG deems appropriate to track a SAFE kit through:
    • collection at a healthcare facility,
    • transfer to local law enforcement,
    • submission to an appropriate laboratory for processing/testing,
    • and final disposition.
  • Implementation timing: The act takes effect on the first day of the seventh month after enactment; the Attorney General may take administrative steps in advance to implement the system.

Who is affected

  • State actors: Attorney General; Department of Law and Public Safety; county prosecutors; State, county, and municipal law enforcement agencies.
  • Non‑governmental actors: hospitals and healthcare facilities that collect SAFE kits; forensic laboratories that receive/ test kits.
  • Victims: will have the ability to track the status/location of their kit.
  • Potential indirect effects: laboratory processing workflows, evidence storage and inventory systems, and local law enforcement procedures.

Fiscal and implementation impact

  • Office of Legislative Services (OLS) fiscal estimate: establishes an indeterminate annual State expenditure increase for implementing and maintaining the system.
  • Existing federal funding: New Jersey received federal Sexual Assault Kit Initiative funds totaling $5,818,058 across FY2020–FY2023, including a $2 million grant awarded in November 2023 specifically to develop and launch a statewide tracking system and expand long‑term SAFE kit storage.
  • The OLS notes a kit tracking system was already being implemented under Attorney General Law Enforcement Directive No. 2023‑1; the statute codifies a statewide requirement but does not exactly mirror the directive.
  • Ongoing staffing, operations, and maintenance costs and the long‑term funding source(s) are indeterminate.

Legislative / procedural status (from supplied materials)

  • Committee reports (Senate Law & Public Safety; Appropriations; Budget & Appropriations) reported favorably.
  • Enactment language shows the act takes effect on the first day of the seventh month after enactment (AG may act earlier administratively).

If you want, I can:
- Extract the exact statutory language for quick reference;
- Produce a short timeline of implementation steps the Attorney General would likely need to take; or
- Draft a plain‑language explainer for victims about how the tracking system is intended to work.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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