Lawmakers alter DNA collection proposal (UPDATE)

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Lawmakers voted Thursday to keep Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to collect DNA samples from people who have been arrested on suspicion of felonies but not on misdemeanors.

That was among a list of modifications to the proposal approved Thursday by the state’s Joint Finance Committee, which is going through the governor’s 2013-15 draft budget in a series of hearings. The changes would also delay the start of the DNA collections by 21 months, require courts to inform defendants of their right to have their DNA information expunged if they are not convicted and have a review conducted of the state’s felony and misdemeanor statutes to determine if they are appropriate and up-to-date.

The sponsor of the motion, state Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, R-River Falls, said the six-month delay would allow the U.S. Supreme Court reach a decision in the case of Maryland v. King, which concerns whether taking DNA from a suspect on arrest violates the Fourth amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

“It will give us the opportunity to see what the court ruling is,” she said, “and move forward from there.”

The governor’s DNA collection proposal, included in his 2013-15 budget draft, would have required DNA collections from everyone arrested for a felony offense, as well as for certain misdemeanors. It would also have the samples from juveniles detained for certain violations, mostly sex offenses.

It also would have put just more than $6 million toward the plan over the next two years, which in part would pay the salaries of 42 employees hired to help with the DNA collections. That amount was reduced by $220,500 in the motion Thursday.

The money for the plan would partly come from revenue raised from a $250 DNA surcharge the courts would impose on anyone convicted of a felony and a $200 surcharge on anyone convicted of a misdemeanor.

The budget would also provide space for the additional DNA work to be done under the governor’s plan, putting about $5.2 million toward an expansion of the state’s crime lab at its Hills Farms office complex on Madison’s west side.

The governor’s proposal allows the elimination of DNA records through a written request if the person they were collected from ends up not being convicted of a crime or waiting for more than a year after arrest without a criminal complaint or delinquency petition being filed.

U.S. Supreme Court Justices heard oral arguments in the case of Maryland v. King on Feb. 26 and are expected to issue a decision in the summer.

Reached before the Joint Finance Committee’s hearing Thursday, Chris Ahmuty, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, said it makes little sense to allow the collections in Wisconsin before it’s determined to be constitutional. He noted that one of the Supreme Court Justices, Samuel Alito, Jr., has said Maryland v. King presents the court with “the most important criminal procedure case this Court has had in decades.”

Wisconsin now gathers about 12,000 DNA samples a year, a number predicted to rise to 80,000 if Walker’s proposal becomes law. Proponents of the increased DNA collections argue the resulting expanded database will make it easier to solve crimes.

Ahmuty said the additional collections may help solve some crimes but the law of diminishing returns will quickly begin exerting itself.

“The truth is,” he said, “once you get a certain number of names, you are not going to get enough benefit to justify the cost, much less the violation of rights.”