Sec. 420.042. ANALYSIS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT EVIDENCE. (a) A law enforcement agency that receives sexual assault evidence collected under this chapter or other law shall submit that evidence to a public accredited crime laboratory for analysis not later than the 30th day after the date on which that evidence was received.
(b) A person who submits sexual assault evidence to a public accredited crime laboratory under this chapter or other law shall provide the following signed, written certification with each submission: "This evidence is being submitted by (name of person making submission) in connection with a criminal investigation."
(c) If sufficient personnel and resources are available, a public accredited crime laboratory as soon as practicable shall complete its analysis of sexual assault evidence submitted under this chapter or other law.
(d) To ensure the expeditious completion of analyses, the department and other applicable public accredited crime laboratories may contract with private accredited crime laboratories as appropriate to perform those analyses, subject to the necessary quality assurance reviews by the public accredited crime laboratories.
(e) The failure of a law enforcement agency to submit sexual assault evidence within the period required by this section does not affect the authority of:
(1) the agency to submit the evidence to an accredited crime laboratory for analysis; or
(2) an accredited crime laboratory to analyze the evidence or provide the results of that analysis to appropriate persons.
Added by Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1105 (S.B. 1636), Sec. 5, eff. September 1, 2011.
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