Wisconsin awaits multiple laws to change the way sexual assault kits are processed

(WLUK)--Wisconsin lawmakers are trying to pass state laws to get sexual assault evidence tested faster. The state made it a priority to get hundreds of rape kits tested last year after they sat in crime labs for decades.

"Our primary concern is meeting their medical needs," said Leah Eckhart a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE).

Reporter: Last year, 85 patients saw specialized SANE registered nurses at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center in Appleton.

"We are the first step in healing, patients are able to come to us," said Eckhart.

Often the first step of a long process.

"I can either send, give that evidence right to law enforcement if they choose to report," said Eckhart. "They can also choose to not report and we can still collect evidence. It goes directly to the crime lab our patients then have 10 years to contact law enforcement to retrieve the kit."

After a kit leaves the examination room, there is no statewide procedure that says how and when it needs to be submitted. Multiple bills have been proposed to create a standard in Wisconsin. Last May, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul pushed a bill that would require all sexual assault kits be sent to crime labs within 72 hours. The bill has yet to be taken up by the assembly committee on health, despite a meeting last week.

State Senator Andre Jacque is also proposing "sexual assault survivor bill of rights" that would require those kits be tested within 90 days.

"In terms of truly making sure there’s not going to be a backlog going forward I think it’s very important that we take the step other states have done, which is requiring the kits actually be tested within a reasonable time frame," said Sen. Jacque.

In October it received unanimous support in the senate but it still waits on the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety in the Assembly.

Meanwhile, other states are passing more advanced laws when it comes to testing sexual assault kits. A new electronic tracking system allows sexual assault survivors to monitor their rape kits in Oklahoma.

"It just gives the survivor some power and some knowledge of where the case is and what process it's at. And to assure them that the kits are getting submitted to the lab and analysis is being performed," said Mistie Burris, an Oklahoma criminalistics administrator.

Sen. Jacque says a similar bill has also been proposed in Wisconsin.

So what is taking so long for the laws to change in Wisconsin?

"Its making sure they are married together in a way that makes everything work. Particularly when you’re talking about tracking kits, as well as guidelines, as well as testing requirements, those are things that you want to make sure, if they’re all simultaneously adopted, that they’re actually going to work together in statute and not conflict," said Sen. Jacque. "I certainly am supportive of each of the individual pieces of legislation."

Jacque says he's hopeful the process will be completed by the spring with new laws enacted.