Relating to DNA samples; prescribing an effective date.
Summary
HB 3093 expands Oregon’s DNA collection laws by requiring law enforcement agencies to obtain a blood or buccal sample from people arrested for certain serious offenses: person felonies, sex crimes, and first-degree burglary. The bill also allows those samples to be analyzed during or immediately after arrest, or later, and authorizes the Department of State Police to adopt rules governing collection, transmission, analysis, storage, and destruction. It preserves existing exceptions where a sample has already been collected or where collection would pose a substantial health or safety risk.
The measure also updates related statutes governing DNA databases, juvenile adjudications, privacy, and criminal fine funding. It removes prior statutory language that required the Department of State Police to prioritize certain convicted-person samples when funding was limited, and instead adds collection and analysis of arrest-based samples as an eligible use of Criminal Fine Account moneys. It also revises destruction and disclosure rules so that samples and records tied to an arrest must be destroyed if the arrest ends in acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or if prosecution is not timely commenced. The bill applies only to arrests on or after its effective date and takes effect 91 days after sine die adjournment.
Impact
HB 3093 amends ORS 137.076, 181A.155, 192.535, 419A.260, 419C.473, and 137.300 to broaden DNA collection at the arrest stage and to align state DNA privacy, retention, and funding rules with that expansion. It creates a new statutory duty for law enforcement to collect samples from specified arrestees, authorizes the State Police to process and retain those samples under existing DNA database systems, and adds a new Criminal Fine Account funding purpose for arrest-sample collection and analysis. It also extends related juvenile and privacy provisions to cover the new arrest-based DNA samples and records.
Sentiment
The committee vote suggests generally favorable support for the bill, with the House committee voting 5-3 to do pass with amendments and refer it to Ways and Means by prior reference. The A-engrossed version indicates the measure advanced with some modification rather than in its original form. No committee transcript was provided, so the available record shows support at the committee level but does not include detailed floor or public testimony sentiment.
Contention
The main points of contention are likely to be the expansion of DNA collection to the arrest stage, the privacy implications of collecting genetic material before conviction, and the use of public funds for collection and analysis. Supporters appear to favor the bill as a law-enforcement and identification tool, while opponents likely object to the broader reach into people who have only been arrested and not convicted, especially given the bill’s retention and database provisions. The 5-3 committee split indicates meaningful disagreement, though the specific arguments are not available in the provided record.