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Thousands of untested sexual assault kits sit on shelves in police departments across the state – and advocates say the untested kits could mean rapists are walking free. As Matt Galka tells us, Florida’s legislature took a big step in ending the rape kit backlog Wednesday.

A Florida Deaprtment of Law Enforcement study found that more than 13 thousand rape kits sat untested in the state. Lawmakers scrambled this year to find a legislative fix for the backlog.

The state is only the Governor’s signature away from setting new guidelines for testing sexual assault evidence.  House sponsor Janet Adkins says her bill can help get felons off the street.

“How did that happen that we have so many evidence kits sitting on shelves and these victims have not received justice,” said Rep. Adkins (R-Fernandina Beach).

Part of the problem was funding.  The legislature’s earmakred more than two million dollars so far to deal with the untested kits.

“We want to make sure that sexual assault kits arriving at FDLE are also timely tested, so I think the plan that we’ve developed is fully funded and addresses the issue 100 percent,” said Sen. Joe Negron (R-Stuart). Negron was the vice chair of the criminal justice budget conference.

Lawmakers hope the additional funding can help clear the backlog in three years or maybe even sooner.

“The original estimate was eight or nine years and that was unacceptable,” said Senate sponsor Lizbeth Benacquisto (R-Fort Myers).

FDLE’s plan estimated clearing the backlog would cost around $8 million dollars. That included money for pay raises and equipment.  Clearing the backlog and securing proper funding to do it is one of the Attorney General’s top priorities.

“We fully support it but in the long run we need to hire more analysts, pay them competitive salaries with other states, and ultimately we need to build another lab to test this DNA,” said Pam Bondi.

The funding will help the FDLE outsource some of the testing work in order to get it done quicker.

The bill requires law enforcement to submit kits for testing within 30 days and for labs to test the kits within 120 days.