Public Act 88-210
Substitute Senate Bill No. 318
Substitute Senate Bill No. 318
AN ACT CONCERNING THE COLLECTION OF EVIDENCE; IN SEX OFFENSE CRIMES.
Section 1. (NEW) (a) There is created a commission on the standardization of the collection of evidence in sexual assault investigations composed of eleven members as follows: The chief state's attorney or his designee, the executive director of the permanent commission on the status of women or her designee; the commissioner of health services or his designee; one member from the state police major crimes division to be appointed by the commissioner of public safety; one member from the state forensic laboratory to be appointed by the director of the state forensic laboratory; one member from Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services, Inc. to be appointed by its board of directors; one member from the Connecticut Hospital Association to be appointed by the president of the association; one emergency room physician, one obstetrician-gynecologist and one pediatrician to be appointed by the president of the Connecticut State Medical Society; and one emergency room nurse to be appointed by the president of the Connecticut Nurse's Association. The commission shall be within the department of health services for administrative purposes only.
(b) For purposes of this section "protocol" means the state of Connecticut hospital protocol for victims of sexual assault which shall consist of regulations adopted in accordance with this subsection pertaining to the collection of evidence in any sex offense crime. The commission shall recommend the protocol to the commissioner of health services for adoption as regulations in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes. Said regulations shall be adopted no later than one year from the effective date of this act. The commission may recommend changes to the protocol every two years for adoption as regulations.
(c) The commission shall design a sexual assault evidence collection kit. Each kit shall include instructions on the proper use of the kit; standardized reporting forms; standardized tests which shall be performed if the victim so consents; standardized receptacles for the collection and preservation of evidence. The commission shall provide the kits to all institutions in the state with emergency rooms or trauma center facilities at no cost to such institutions.
Sec. 2. The sum of twenty-five thousand dollars is appropriated to the commission on the standardization of the collection of evidence in sexual assault investigations, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1989, from the sum appropriated to the finance advisory committee under section 1 of special act 88-20, for 1988 acts without appropriations, for the provision of sexual assault evidence collection kits to institutions and for the instruction of emergency room physicians and nurses.
Sec. 3. This act shall take effect from its passage, except that section 2 shall take effect July 1, 1988.
Approved May 26, 1988