Backlog Justice Act of 2026

This bill would require the U.S. Attorney General to create and update at least once a year a public online database of anonymized data on sexual assault evidence kits held by state and local labs, including estimates of how long each lab takes to test a kit. It would allow the FBI to run training programs for analysts who test sexual assault evidence and for DNA technical leaders, and to run a program that researches and shares new DNA processing technologies with state and local labs. States that have a website letting survivors track their sexual assault kit through each stage of processing could receive up to a 10 percent increase in certain federal grant funding. The Attorney General would also have to report to Congress every 3 years on the workload, backlog, staffing, and equipment needs of state and local crime labs, medical examiners, and coroners.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Emanuel Cleaver Democrat sponsor
• 20 cosponsors