TAMMY BALDWIN COMMITTEES:
WISCONSIN APPROPRIATIONS

BUDGET

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LABOR, AND PENSIONS
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AS 0 20510 HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
October 4, 2016

The Honorable Brad Schimel
Attorney General

State of Wisconsin

State Capitol 1 14 East
Madison, WI 53702

Dear Attorney General Schimel:

I write to express my concerns with Wisconsin?s sexual assault kit backlog. It has been more
than a year since your department received $4 million from the US. Department of Justice
(USDOJ) and the New York County District Attorney?s Of?ce to support reducing the backlog
and related investigative work, research and public education. Recent press reports indicate,
however, that there has yet to be any progress from your office in the actual testing of the
estimated 6,000 sexual assault kits in our state. This is unacceptable and the peeple of Wisconsin
deserve better.

At the federal level, I have worked to be a strong partner in addressing the sexual assault kit
backlog. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee?which is responsible for
funding federal grants that help state sexual assault kit testing programs?I have helped make
more federal funding available to enhance testing efforts. In addition, when USA Today first
uncovered the nationwide backlog of 70,000 kits last July, I wrote to Attorney General 
urging her to bring forward federal resources to help state and local law enforcement address this
unacceptable situation. I was pleased to see her, together with Manhattan District Attorney
Cyrus Vance, Jr., step forward with $79 million in funds to assist in this critical effort. As I
wrote to the Attorney General then, is critical that victims of sexual assault across the
country receive the swift and thorough justice they deserve. . Unfortunately, in Wisconsin,
those victims, their families and their communities appear little closer to obtaining justice than
they were last July.

I appreciate that surveying the hundreds oflocal law enforcement agencies in our state, which
have widely varying levels of staff and resources, is a challenging task. Furthermore, dealing
with evidence of potential crimes must of course be a thorough and deliberate

undertaking. However, I am also very troubled by reports that, more than a year after receiving
this infusion of outside resources, none of the backlog in our state has been reduced.

The USDOJ recently awarded the state another $1.1 million to process these kits. This is a
federal investment in Wisconsin that I strongly support so I want to know that this funding from
Washington is being met with a strong commitment from you to get the job done on the backlog.

I know that we both share the goal of seeing these kits tested and providing survivors of sexual
assault and their families with the justice and closure that they deserve. I ask that you approach
this effort with a renewed sense of urgency, ensuring that limited federal resources are used to
accomplish our goal of ending this backlog as swiftly as possible.

.. ii 26.1.1;
Tamm aldwin
Unite States Senator

Sincerely,