Co-Sponsored by Rep. Rose, Rape Kit Tracking Bill Heads to Full State Senate for Ratification in S.C.

A bill to track sexual assault kits, and better protect victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, that passed in House is now heading to the S.C. State Senate for ratification.

“In South Carolina right now we don’t have any requirement that rape kits be tested at all,” explained Rep. Mandy Powers Norrell. She joined several other lawmakers in cosponsoring the bill to create a rape kit tracking system.

The proposal filed by Orangeburg lawmaker Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter requires tracking from the time the rape kit is administered to a victim to the time it’s tested in a lab.

Representative Seth Rose also cosponsored the legislation. “Right now there is no accountability as to where the sample is, whose hands it’s in, if the testing is taking place at all.”

The bill will also compile much needed data; keeping count of the number of kits tested and those waiting to be tested.

Rep. Rose outlined some of the consequences of kits not being tested. “When we have samples that aren’t being tested in a timely fashion that’s more time a perpetrator can be out there committing more violent crimes.”

The bill passed unanimously in the House and most recently in the full Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill will now head to the full Senate. If is approved by the Senate, the bill would require Gov. McMaster's signature to become law.

To see coverage from WSPA-TV 7 CBS (Spartanburg, SC), please click here