Florida

In 2025, Florida legislators enacted SB2500, a bill allowing the Department of Law Enforcement to use additional federal funds and any other available funds contained in Specific Appropriation 1161 for the purpose of processing rape kits.

In 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded the Broward County State Attorney’s Office nearly $1.5 million to implement a Cold Case Sexual Assault Initiative and to establish a trauma-informed and victim-focused approach to sexual assault cases.

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Forensic Services, from October to December 2024, the average turnaround time for testing sexual assault kits was 87 days.

In 2024, Florida legislators introduced HB607 / SB764, a bill that requires unreported kits to be retained for 50 years, stored anonymously in a secure and environmentally safe manner, and with a documented chain of custody. The bill was signed into law.

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

In 2022, Florida legislators introduced SB660, a bill that would have granted survivors the right to know the location and results of their kits, whether DNA was obtained, and if there were any DNA matches. They would have also been granted the right to be informed of kit destruction 60 days prior, and the right to have their kits preserved for longer.

In 2021, Florida legislators introduced HB673/SB1002, a bill that would create a statewide tracking system with a survivor portal. All agencies that handle rape kits would be mandated to participate in the system under this bill. In June 2021, the bill was signed into law. The same year, SB2500 was passed, which requires that any funding left over from distributing kits be used for processing kits.

HB727 and SB1028 would have required implementation of a rape kit tracking system with a survivor portal, mandated an annual inventory of untested kits in law enforcement possession, and required law enforcement to submit a kit to the lab within five days of receiving it. These bills failed to pass.

HB541 and SB892 would have mandated the creation of a statewide rape kit tracking database, while assuring that a survivor would be notified about and have access to information on their kit, including if a match occurred. These bills failed to pass.

In 2020, BJA awarded the city of Fort Lauderdale $218,496 to test kits, investigate and prosecute cases, and re-engage survivors. BJA also awarded the city of Jacksonville $1 million to sustain its work on rape kit reform.

In 2019, Florida announced the state had completed testing all of its previously backlogged kits.

In 2019, legislators introduced HB83, which would have established a statewide information management system to track rape kits. This bill failed to pass.

As of January 2018, testing was completed on 6,161 kits, yielding 1,461 hits in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

In 2018, BJA awarded the State Attorney’s Office, Fourth Judicial Circuit $1.5 million to sustain its work, and an additional $880,933 to collect lawfully owed DNA from convicted offenders. BJA awarded the city of Fort Lauderdale $238,031 to test kits, investigate and prosecute cases, and re-engage survivors.

In 2017, the City of Lake Mary received $6,130 to improve their evidence tracking system to facilitate the inventory, tracking, and reporting of rape kits by testing status; the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office received $238,608 to develop an evidence tracking system; the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office received $58,771 to develop a system to inventory and track rape kits and other evidence; and the City of Miami Police Department received $264,263 to upgrade its existing evidence tracking system to improve rape kit handling moving forward.

In 2016, Florida enacted SB636, requiring law enforcement agencies to submit rape kits for testing within 30 days if a report is made or if requested by the victim, and that all kits be tested within 120 days of receipt by a lab. The law requires that hospitals and law enforcement inform the survivor or the survivor’s representative of their right to demand testing. The bill mandated that the state crime lab system collaborate with the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence to produce guidelines by January 2017 for kit collection, submission, and testing.

In 2016, Florida legislators enacted HB5001, appropriating $2.3 million in new funding to start testing backlogged kits.

BJA awarded the city of Jacksonville $672,284 to test kits, investigate and prosecute cases, and re-engage survivors.

In 2015, Florida enacted SB2500, which required the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to conduct a one-time audit of untested rape kits across the state. In the same year, the FDLE reported at least 13,435 untested rape kits in the possession of 279 law enforcement agencies. FDLE announced a goal of testing 8,600 of these kits by June 2019.

In 2015, The Accountability Project issued an open records request to bring the number of untested rape kits in Jacksonville to light. Through this request, we uncovered a backlog of 1,943 untested kits in Jacksonville.

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded the State Attorney’s Office (4th Judicial Circuit, Jacksonville) $1,968,822 to test kits, investigate and prosecute cases, and re-engage survivors.

Under the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the New York County District Attorney’s Office’s (DANY) 2015 partnership grant, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) was awarded $1,268,540 to test 2,076 rape kits.

Under the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the New York County District Attorney’s Office’s (DANY) 2015 partnership grant, the Tallahassee Police Department was awarded $163,939 to test 225 rape kits.

Under the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the New York County District Attorney’s Office’s (DANY) 2015 partnership grant, the Miami-Dade Police Department was awarded $1,968,246 to test 2,900 rape kits.

In 2015, Florida legislators appropriated $300,000 for an audit to be carried out by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). The 2015 budget also appropriated $10,401,490 for FDLE to distribute rape kits to local law enforcement agencies and test rape kits, including backlogged kits.

According to a report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement there were 13,435 untested kits in Florida in 2015.