Efforts to establish a statewide tracking system for sexual assault forensic examination kits have failed again in the Maine Legislature after lawmakers adjourned last month without funding two bills that would have set up a tracking system.

The failed funding comes after Gov. Janet Mills rejected a similar bill last year because it was among a group of proposals sent to her at the last minute. Maine remains in a minority of states without a tracking system, something advocates say is critical to improve the response to sexual assaults.

“We’re incredibly disappointed that the Legislature didn’t fund either of the two tracking bills this year,” said Carlie Fischer, systems advocacy coordinator for the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault. “This is the second time we’ve brought kit tracking bills to the Legislature. … It’s really an issue of survivors being able to understand what’s happened with their evidence, and Maine has already fallen behind without a system in place.”

Forty states and Washington, D.C., have implemented or committed to implementing statewide rape kit tracking systems, according to the Joyful Heart Foundation, a New York organization dedicated to fighting sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse.

Maine is the only state that has not taken any of the six steps recommended by the foundation to achieve comprehensive rape kit reform, including creating a statewide inventory of untested kits, testing backlogged kits and implementing a tracking system.

BILLS NOT FUNDED

After a sexual assault, a survivor may choose to undergo a medical examination to collect any forensic evidence left behind. The evidence is collected in a sexual assault evidence collection kit, also called a rape kit, and can be used to build a criminal case or link an alleged perpetrator to other crimes.

Without a tracking system, it is difficult for survivors to know where their kit is — at the hospital they visited or with law enforcement — and if it has been tested. Most survivors are never contacted about the status of their rape kit, which can severely hamper recovery, according to testimony the Maine Public Health Association gave lawmakers in February in support of implementing a tracking system.

Two bills, LD 549 and LD 1816, would have created a statewide tracking system for all of Maine’s sexual assault kits and would allow victims to receive updates on the status of their kits. Both bills would also have required the Maine Department of Public Safety to compile an inventory of all its backlogged and shelved cases, and to share a report on its progress in tracking the kits with lawmakers by January 2027.

LD 549, sponsored by Sen. Rick Bennett, a lawmaker from Oxford who recently unenrolled from the Republican Party to run for governor as an independent, would have also required testing of kits in sexual assaults reported to police. LD 1816, sponsored by Sen. Jill Duson, D-Portland, would not mandate the testing.

Bennett’s bill costs slightly more, with a fiscal note of $572,898 in the first year and similar ongoing costs, while Duson’s bill had a fiscal note of $389,641 for the first year and similar ongoing costs. Both bills received initial approval from lawmakers, but didn’t end up getting funded — a critical step before final passage.

In response to questions about why the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee did not recommend funding either bill, a spokesperson for the Senate President’s Office said it was a challenging budget year and there were many bills this year that did not get funding.

“In a year when resources were extremely limited and careful choices had to be made, the committee focused on what survivors and service providers shared would have the most immediate impact,” said Mary Catus, citing testimony the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault gave the budget committee, calling for funding for civil legal services to help survivors of sexual violence.

The budget addition approved by lawmakers last month includes $6 million per year over the next two years for victims’ services, to replace reductions and anticipated reductions in federal grants, as well as $3 million for civil legal aid services for low-income Mainers.

Fischer, from the coalition, said victims’ services and legal aid funding is critical, but it shouldn’t be an “either or.”

‘A SHAMEFUL INJUSTICE’

Bennett tried to get lawmakers to take up the two bills on the last day of the session, but his efforts failed to meet the threshold for open debate.

“The core components of rape kit reform — establishing a statewide inventory of untested kits, instituting an active kit testing system and implementing a tracking system — remain completely unaddressed in Maine,” Bennett said in a written statement.

“It is a dark mark of infamy that Maine is the only state in the nation that has taken none of these steps. The failure to fund the implementation of these changes is a shameful injustice to survivors and, unfortunately, makes a statement about the low priority that policymakers have for ensuring justice in our state.”

Both bills have carried over to next year’s session. Bennett and Rep. Valli Geiger, D-Rockland, who sponsored a bill last year to create a rape kit tracking system, have called on lawmakers to make the funding a priority. Geiger’s bill passed both the House and Senate but was among dozens of spending bills that were left unsigned by Mills at the end of the session last year.

The governor supported the bill, but was concerned that lawmakers didn’t have legal authority to send additional bills to her after the Legislature’s statutory adjournment date.

“We are the only state in the nation that has not adopted a single best practice for rape kit reform. That is directly related to our low conviction rate for sexual violence crimes,” Geiger said in a written statement. “Other states that have completed their backlog of kit testing have identified serial offenders and delivered long-overdue justice. Maine’s survivors deserve no less.”

INDEPENDENT EFFORTS

Efforts have been launched in some counties independently. The Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault received $90,000 in federal funds in 2023 to start a pilot project to inventory and track sexual assault kits in Kennebec and Penobscot counties, and the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office received a $2.5 million grant in December to inventory, test and track an estimated 500 sexual assault kits.

Fischer said the coalition currently has funding to keep the pilot program in Kennebec and Penobscot counties running through September but is committed to keeping it running beyond then, with the hope of securing more federal dollars. “MECASA is not going to let our progress go by the wayside, but we can’t add on to this or go any bigger without increased funding,” she said.

Since the program started tracking kits in November, about 110 kits have been inventoried and tracked at hospitals and the Maine State Police Crime Lab. Several hundred more are expected to be added as work continues to track kits that are in the possession of law enforcement agencies.

“A tracking system is something we’re really excited about because it’s a big piece of the larger response puzzle,” Fischer said. “It really does bring a lot of disciplines into the fold to be more transparent and accountable, and it helps us figure out where there are gaps — where people are going to the hospital, where they aren’t, which law enforcement agencies are responding quickly.

“I think that’s going to be really helpful for us as a tool, not for pointing fingers, but for figuring out where we need to invest more time and resources to get this right and to do what victims and survivors want.”