For Immediate Release: Tuesday June 23, 2026
Contact: Olivia Hall, media@endthebacklog.org
The Joyful Heart Foundation celebrates the enactment of House Bill 239 in Alaska, which ensures the ongoing operation of the state’s rape kit tracking system and grants survivors the right to know the status of their kit. Four years in the making, this new law puts Alaska on the growing list of states that have adopted all six of Joyful Heart’s pillars of rape kit reform.
HB239 codifies the existing statewide sexual assault evidence tracking system, which was created under Governor Dunleavy’s initiative in 2021, and has been in use since July 2023. The system tracks the initial collection of kits at hospitals, inventory and storage by law enforcement, testing and storage by state labs, and destruction of kits. The new law mandates all agencies who participate in the tracking system to update the status of a kit. Joyful Heart encourages states to codify these systems into law,ensuring compliance regardless of future changes in leadership and state priorities.
The bill grants survivors the right to know about their kits, whether via the tracking system, calling, or in-person inquiry at their local precinct. This flexibility is essential for survivors who cannot safely access the tracking system due to stalking or cohabitation with the offender. By granting the right in the law, this provision removes barriers to information, and ensures comprehensive, secure access to information for all survivors, which is central to their healing process. The bill also improves rape kit handling timelines by requiring hospitals to notify law enforcement of new kits within 14 days, law enforcement agencies to send the kits to the crime lab within 20 days after being notified instead of 30 days, law enforcement to make reasonable effort to notify victim of testing within 14 days of the lab testing, and the crime lab to test rape kits within 120 days instead of 6 months.
With the passage of HB239, Alaska becomes a comprehensive rape kit reform state as defined by Joyful Heart, joining 21 states at full reform. On May 6th, 2026, Joyful Heart announced its campaign to end the backlog had reached the milestone of at least one pillar of reform in all 50 states.
Learn more about Alaska’s journey through rape kit reform at: https://www.endthebacklog.org/state/alaska. If you have any questions or need more information, do not hesitate to contact our media department at Media@EndtheBacklog.org to connect with our director of Policy and Advocacy, Ilse Knecht.
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The mission of the Joyful Heart Foundation is to transform society’s response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, support survivors’ healing, and end this violence forever. www.joyfulheartfoundation.org