SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that modifies post-conviction DNA testing procedures was one of nine bills that passed a House Judiciary Committee meeting Wednesday evening.

SB76, sponsored by Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, modifies requirements to obtain post-conviction DNA testing provided that new evidence would show that the petitioner would not be convicted or would have a lesser sentence rather than requiring that the evidence would show factual innocence.

It also “provides that after the Utah attorney general responds to a petition for post-conviction DNA testing, the petitioner may reply to the attorney general's response before the court makes a determination regarding allowing the testing.”

“The only thing it really does is change the standard to open up a little bit more in access to getting a DNA test,” Hillyard said.

The bill passed through the committee with a 9-0 vote Wednesday after passing through the Senate last month. The bill has a fiscal note of $40,000.

“If you’ve got one person wrongly convicted in prison and he or she gets released because now we can prove that in fact they did not commit the crime, we’re going to save a lot more than $40,000 just in costs, not to mention personal sacrifice,” Hillyard said.

The bill garnered support from Innocence Project, and Hillyard testified that five inmates in Utah have been exonerated since using more DNA testing in the past decade.

House Minority Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, supported the bill, saying that it will help those wrongly convicted.

“I think it’s a very important bill,” he said. “A lot of people across this country have been assisted by DNA testing and establishing their innocence after being wrongly convicted. We’ve got our own in Utah.”

Rep. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork and chairman of the committee, noted that he was unaware of any problems those seeking DNA tests had in obtaining them.

“I’m surprised that that’s the current law. That standard is just incredibly difficult,” he said before the committee voted in favor of passing it to the House floor.

Eight other bills also passed through the committee on Wednesday unanimously.

Bill regarding civil asset forfeiture

SB87, sponsored by Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, passed after the most spirited discussion of the two-hour meeting. The bill deals with the topic of civil asset forfeiture, which is “the seizure and forfeiture of assets that represent the proceeds of or were used to facilitate federal crimes,” according to the Department of Justice.

The controversy with the practice is that sometimes property is seized without someone receiving a criminal charge.

Thatcher’s bill would modify this practice in Utah.

"I think we can all agree that you shouldn't take property from someone who is not being charged with a crime," Thatcher told the committee. "With very few exceptions, this requires that charges be filed within 75 days or the property be returned immediately."

Thatcher said exceptions would include those who flee from jurisdiction or cases that might be large and complicated, such as cases with more than $10,000 or that involve more agencies. That number, Thatcher said, is where federal agencies typically begin investigating.

"Considering that the vast majority of cases in the state of Utah are under $10,000, we felt like this was a good way to get all of the affected agencies and all of local government on board," he said.

Related:

Utah police seized $1.9M in cash under civil forfeiture law

Utah police seized nearly $1.9 million in cash in recent years from people under a law allowing law enforcement to take someone's property even if a person isn't charged or convicted of a crime, a state report shows.

Bountiful Police Chief Tom Ross testified on behalf of the Utah Chiefs of Police Association in support of the bill.

“It is extremely important for law enforcement to make sure that we are not taking property and assets from innocent owners,” he said. “… It is also an important process that nobody benefits from crime, whether it’s the Bernie Madoff that embezzles billions of dollars for boats and yachts or the drug dealer with $200 taking that money from our kids and our most vulnerable.”

Marina Lowe, from the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, testified in support of reforms being made to the subject, though added the state is lagging behind others across the country and the bill doesn’t do enough.

There was concern brought up by fees associated with the process.

“Our system in Utah greatly needs to be improved upon … they are sweeping reforms happening across the nation with regard to civil asset forfeiture from New Mexico to Pennsylvania to Nebraska,” Lowe said. “This proposal is not one of those sweeping reforms. This is a baby step. Baby steps are good, but this hardly qualifies as major reform.”

The bill eventually passed through to the House floor after a couple of amendments were made to it.

Bill regarding child placement services

HB131 makes revisions to child placement services, which had the support of the Division of Child and Family Services. The bill would “require the division to make an ongoing child placement that is in the child's best interests without the division giving undue preference to the child's emergency placement.”

“What I think this will do is it’ll allow relatives that feel like they’ve been not heard or not considered like they feel like they should have been that they can sort of have a recourse in discussing their paternal list,” said Brent Platt, director of the division.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Kay Christofferson, R-Lehi.

All bills passed Wednesday will be voted on by the House at later times.

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