Alaska

In 2025, legislators introduced SB69 / HB62, which would codify the state’s tracking system into law and reduce kit handling timelines. Hospitals must notify law enforcement agencies within 14 days of kit collection; law enforcement must submit kits to a laboratory for DNA analysis no later than 20 days of receipt; and kits must be tested within 120 days. The bill also includes language that would grant victims the right to know the status and location of their kit. Read our letter of support and our written testimony. This bill failed to pass.

In 2024, Alaska Department of Public Safety announced it had processed 3,059 backlogged rape kits found in the 2017 inventory, resulting in 1,011 possible CODIS profiles generated and 414 matches to profiles of convicted felons or samples from other cases. With this, Alaska joined the growing list of states that have ended their backlog.

In 2024, legislators in Alaska introduced HB275. This bill would codify the state’s tracking system into law. After years of advocacy, the bill also had language added that would grant victims the right to know the status and location of their kit. The bill passed the House Health and Social Services Committee, and died in the House Finance Committee. Read our letter of support and our testimony.

In 2023, Alaska’s rape kit tracking system went live.

HB325, enacted in October 2022, included lab testing timelines language originally proposed in HB5 in 2021. The new law shortened the lab’s kit-testing timelines from one year to six months.

According to a report by the Department of Public Safety there were 75 untested kits in Alaska in 2022.

In 2021, Alaska’s Governor, Mike Dunleavy, announced that the state would establish a rape kit tracking system.

In 2021, Alaska legislators introduced HB5, which would have shortened the lab’s kit-testing timelines from one year to six months. The current timeline is one of the longest in the country and does not ensure a swift testing process. This bill failed to pass.

According to a report by the Department of Public Safety there were 558 untested kits in Alaska in 2021.

In 2020, legislators introduced HB182, which would have shortened the timeline for crime labs to test kits from one year to six months. Read our letter of support. This bill failed to pass.

In 2020, BJA awarded the Department of Public Safety $998,791 to track rape kits.

In 2019, legislators introduced HB20, which requires law enforcement agencies to submit kits to a laboratory for DNA analysis within 30 days of receipt. The agency must ensure that the laboratory tests the submitted kit within one year of receipt, and must also make a reasonable effort to notify the survivor that their kit has been tested within two weeks. If an agency determines a kit is scientifically unviable, does not meet eligibility requirements for entry into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), or was collected from a survivor wishing to remain anonymous, the kit will be deemed ineligible for testing. Additionally, this legislation requires DPS to include information in their annual report regarding the number of kits determined ineligible for testing, and the reasons the kits were determined to be ineligible. Read our testimony in support of the bill. This bill was included in an omnibus criminal justice reform bill, HB49, and was signed into law on July 8.

The 2018 inventory report indicated the number of untested kits in the state had fallen to 2,568.

In 2018, Alaska legislators appropriated $2.75 million in the state capital budget to process and store rape kits. DPS provides progress updates on their website.

Alaska also enacted HB31, which required an annual inventory of untested rape kits, law enforcement training in sexual assault, and standard definitions for two different categories of sexual assault reports. Read Joyful Heart’s letter of support.

The inventory report, released in November 2017, identified 3,484 unsubmitted kits in possession of law enforcement agencies statewide.

In 2017, BJA awarded DPS an additional $443,727 to sustain its work on rape kit reform.

In 2017, Alaska enacted SB55, which required DPS to conduct a one-time statewide inventory of untested rape kits.

In 2015, The Accountability Project issued an open records request to bring the number of untested kits in Anchorage to light. In September 2016, The Northern Light reported that the Anchorage Police Department (APD) had 1,691 untested kits in storage. Through our correspondence with APD, we confirmed that number, and discovered that these untested kits dated as far back as 1993.

In 2015, Alaska Governor Bill Walker began a preliminary rape kit inventory. In August 2016, the governor’s office announced approximately 3,800 untested kits statewide.

In 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded the Department of Public Safety (DPS) $1,090,450 to process nearly 1,000 pieces of evidence including 707 rape kits, investigate and prosecute cases, and re-engage survivors.