Georgia lawmakers are moving to overhaul how long sexual-assault evidence stays on the shelf when survivors are not ready to go to police, potentially turning a short holding window into a decades-long safeguard. The measure would require law enforcement to hang on to DNA and other biological material so it is still there if and when survivors decide to pursue criminal or civil action. The proposal surfaced in the final days of Georgia's 2026 legislative session and has sharpened the spotlight on how the state stores and tracks forensic evidence.
What the bill would do
House Bill 626 would amend Georgia's preservation-of-evidence rules so that when a survivor decides not to report at the time of a forensic exam, law enforcement must keep any physical evidence containing biological material for at least 30 years instead of for a much shorter period, according to the Georgia House Daily Report.
Bill text and sponsors
The committee substitute gives the bill the short title the "Stephanie Colquitt-Shurman Act" and spells out the new long-term retention requirement, as detailed by LegiScan. A bipartisan group of sponsors, including Reps. Karen Lupton and Scott Holcomb, is backing the measure, which was favorably reported by the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee before being postponed, according to the bill tracking page on LegiScan.
Why advocates say it matters
Survivor advocates and some prosecutors argue that longer storage makes it more likely that usable DNA will still be available when a survivor decides to come forward, giving investigators a real chance to pursue older cases, as reported by WSB-TV. Groups that helped push earlier reforms point to a years-long effort to clear rape kit backlogs statewide and to put tracking systems in place for those kits, context described by End the Backlog.
Legal implications
Under Georgia law, prosecutions for rape and certain other sex crimes may be started at any time when DNA evidence is later used to establish the identity of the accused, so preserving biological samples can determine whether a case can move forward, according to Justia, which publishes O.C.G.A. § 17-3-1. Current code that governs preservation of evidence for reported assaults already sets lengthy retention timelines; HB 626 would extend similar protections to kits collected when a survivor initially declines to report, as reflected in O.C.G.A. § 17-5-71 on Justia.
What's next
The bill still has to clear the remaining procedural hurdles before it can land on the governor's desk, and local reporting indicates that backers expect it to become law if it keeps moving on its current track. Supporters frame the measure as a way to preserve future options for survivors rather than to force immediate testing, while lawmakers and agencies will have to sort out the long-term storage space, tracking systems, and chain-of-custody details that come with holding evidence for decades.
