SB 920

Present law provides that a victim of a sexually-oriented crime is entitled to forensic medical examinations without charge to the victim. No bill for the examination must be submitted to the victim, nor must the medical facility hold the victim respons ible for payment. All claims for forensic medical examinations are eligible for payment from the criminal injuries compensation fund. The amount of compensation that may be awarded must not exceed $1,000 and must constitute full compensation to the heal th care provider that provided service. This bill increases the maximum amount of compensation to $2,500 for claims for compensation for forensic medical examinations performed on or after July 1, 2025. TENNESSEE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Until January 1, 2025, present law requires the Tennessee bureau of investigation ("TBI"") to provide quarterly updates on the bureau's efforts to hire and train employees within the forensic services division and the average amount of time taken to perfo rm forensic analysis on evidence in cases involving sexual offenses, to the judiciary committee of the senate and the criminal justice committee of the house of representatives. This bill removes this provision and, instead, requires the TBI to perform serology or DNA analysis on a sexual assault evidence collection kit within 120 days of the bureau's receipt of the sexual assault evidence collection kit from a law enforcement a gency. If the TBI is unable to perform serology or DNA analysis on a sexual assault evidence collection kit within such 120-day period, then the TBI must flag the sexual assault evidence collection kit in the electronic tracking system and provide the su bm itting law enforcement agency with a written explanation for the delay in analysis. Additionally, a sexual assault evidence collection kit that has been flagged pursuant to this bill must be analyzed within a reasonable time thereafter. This bill provides that the TBI's inability to perform serology or DNA analysis on a sexual assault evidence collection kit within the timeframe required by this bill does not limit the admissibility of evidence obtained from the sexual assault evidence collection kit and is not a ground for challenging the validity of any analysis performed by the bureau of evidence obtained from the sexual assault evidence collection kit. The provisions above apply to sexual assault evidence collection kits received by the TBI on or after July 1, 2025. ON APRIL 7, 2025, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 679, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 rewrites this bill to specify that, notwithstanding present law requiring parental consent for the treatment of minors, when the victim of a sexually oriented crime is a minor, the consent of a parent or guardian is not required for the vict im to receive a forensic medical examination. By January 1, 2026, this amendment requires the TBI to submit a report to the judiciary and finance, ways and means committees of the senate and the committees of the house of representatives having jurisdiction over criminal justice matters and finance, ways, and means matters detailing the processing times over the previous 12 months for the bureau's forensic analysis of evidence in cases involving sexual offenses. ON APRIL 21, 2025, THE SENATE SUBSTITUTED HOUSE BILL 679 FOR SENATE BILL 920 AND REFERRED HOUSE BILL 679 TO THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE. ON FEBRUARY 23, 2026, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 679, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #2 removes the requirement that the bureau submit a report to legislative committees detailing the processing times over the previous 12 months for the bureau's forensic analysis of evidence in cases involving sexual offenses."