SB 365aa- Katie’s Law Expansion, Co-sponsor Senator Vernon Asbill

New Mexico Senate Minority Office
For Immediate Release Saturday, March 12, 2011 Contact: 505-986-4702
Katie’s Law Expansion Passes Senate with Two Amendments that Severely Change the Bill
Hope that House will Remove Amendments

SB 365aa- Katie’s Law Expansion, Co-sponsor Senator Vernon Asbill (R- Carlsbad)
Santa Fe- The Senate voted 38 to 3 for SB 365aa- Katie’s Law Expansion. It was amended twice on the Senate floor in drastic ways that were not supported by Senate Republicans.
Two floor amendments changed the original bill dramatically. Instead of expanding Katie’s Law so all people arrested in New Mexico for all felony crimes would have to give DNA samples, the first Democrat amendment in the Senate tonight changed the bill by only allowing the collection of DNA samples after a court has found probable cause that the person has committed the felony. This changed the original bill by not allowing the collection of DNA upon booking for the felony arrest. A second Democrat amendment allowed the expungement of many records from an arrested person’s file and from public records for various reasons including for felony charges that have been resolved by dismissal.
Senator Rod Adair (R-Roswell) tried to remove the two Democrat floor amendments to restore the bill to its original form. The original bill would have required DNA samples from all people arrested for all felony crimes, not for only violent crimes as required from the bill that became law in 2006. While all 15 Republicans voted to restore the bill to its original form, Adair’s amendment failed 19 to 22.
All 15 Republicans in the Senate voted against the first amendment sponsored by Democrat Senator Richard C. Martinez that changed the original bill by not allowing the collection of DNA upon booking for the felony arrest. The first amendment passed 20 to 19.
Senator Rod Adair (R-Roswell) said the first two floor amendments are not the will of the people and he voted against the bill because of the amendments, “The Senate pretty much killed Katie’s Law tonight. We are stopping everything and we are not hearing the will of the people.”
Senator John Ryan (R- Albuquerque) was another Senator who voted against the bill because of the amendments that including the expungement of records. “We passed Katie’s law in 2006 without discussing probably cause at that time. Now we are talking about expungement of not only DNA but of all sorts of things in a person’s arrest records. We have gotten off the simple topic of collection of DNA and are talking about expunging a person’s record all the way back to the arrest. We should be embracing this technology to go after the bad guys.”
The sponsor of the bill, Senator Vernon Asbill (R-Carlsbad) was extremely disappointed about the floor amendments being tacked on to his bill in the Senate. He hopes the House will be able to remove the Senate floor amendments when the bill goes to the House.
Katie’s Law was named after Katie Sepich, the New Mexico State University Student from Carlsbad who was attacked, raped and murdered in 2003.
There has been a statute in our state for a number of years that has allowed law enforcement officers to collect DNA samples of convicted felons to help law enforcement prove their cases, the Katie’s Law in 2006 extended the ability to collect DNA samples from people who are arrested for various felonies deemed to be more violent in nature. The bill being considered this session would include violent and nonviolent felonies.