Lawmakers give CBI longer to spend $3 million to address rape kit backlog — with new oversight

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation will have another year to spend $3 million earmarked for the processing of sexual assault forensic exams after lawmakers set more transparency measures for how it works through the backlog of more than 1,400 kits.

Sexual assault victims are now facing wait times of more than 500 days for their exams, commonly called rape kits, to be processed. The money remains from a part of $7.4 million that was initially set aside to retest DNA samples affected by the scandal involving lab analyst Yvonne “Missy” Woods, and it was set to expire June 30, at the end of the state’s fiscal year.

Members of the legislature’s powerful budget-writing committee explicitly approved the use of the money to work through the rape kit back log. But earlier this month, they balked at giving the agency more time, and free rein, to spend the money.

They didn’t trust the agency in the fallout of the testing scandal and expressed concern about a lack of transparency around the backlog of untested rape kits.

The CBI responded with a plan to address the backlog, and the House added requirements for monthly reporting on its progress. Together, those developments broke the impasse.

Last week, Rep. Jenny Willford, a Northglenn Democrat, introduced the amendment on a spending bill for the Department of Public Safety, which houses the CBI. Her own sexual assault case is being held up by the backlog.

The Senate agreed to the amendment Tuesday.

“This is the start of a very difficult conversation we are going to have to have with CBI,” Willford said when introducing the amendment. “… Does it absolve CBI of any accountability? Absolutely not.”