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Senate votes to change DNA law

By: Associated Press//March 11, 2014//

Senate votes to change DNA law

By: Associated Press//March 11, 2014//

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin state Senate has voted to change a state law that requires police to collect DNA from people arrested for felonies.

The Senate voted Tuesday to have the DNA go directly to the state crime lab rather than have the local law enforcement agency that makes the arrest hold on the sample. The Department of Justice would not be allowed to analyze the DNA until there has been a finding of probable cause or other conditions are met.

Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen had complained that delaying getting the DNA to the crime lab needlessly complicated the law, which takes effect in April 2015.

The bill now heads to the Assembly, which must also pass it before it would go to Gov. Scott Walker.

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