SENATE BILL 474

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

INTRODUCED BY

Mimi Stewart

 

 

 

 

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT; REQUIRING THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY FORENSIC LABORATORIES BUREAU TO ASSIST LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT CRIME LABORATORIES WITH TESTING SAMPLES OF BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL COLLECTED PURSUANT TO A MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF A SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIM.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 29-3-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1935, Chapter 149, Section 7, as amended) is amended to read:

     "29-3-4. STATE AGENCIES--COOPERATION.--

          A. It [shall be] is the duty of the university of New Mexico, the human services department, the department of health [and environment department] and all other state departments, divisions, bureaus, boards, commissions, institutions and officials, free of charge or reward, to cooperate with the law enforcement officers of the state and the New Mexico state police, and to render to them such services and assistance relative to microanalysis, handwriting, toxicology, chemistry, photography, medicine, ballistics and all other sciences and matters relating to or that would aid in controlling crime and the detection, apprehension, identification and prosecution of criminals.

          B. To ensure timely identification and prosecution of sexual assault offenders, the department of public safety forensic laboratories bureau shall assist any other local law enforcement agency crime laboratory that has more than one hundred untested samples of biological material collected pursuant to a medical examination of a sexual assault victim by processing and testing samples for that laboratory.

          C. As used in this section, "biological material" means material that is derived from a human body and includes bodily fluids, hair and skin cells."

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