ATLANTA (AP) - The Georgia House has again voted to require that law enforcement expedite processing of rape kits for sexual assault victims.
Rep. Scott Holcomb sponsored a bill requiring law enforcement to pick up the kits from hospitals within 96 hours that unanimously passed the House earlier this year.
But it stalled in the Senate without a committee hearing. Republican Sen. Renee Unterman of Buford has said a federal grant will fix any backlogs of rape kit testing in Georgia and declined to act on Holcomb's proposal.
Holcomb, an Atlanta Democrat, is using a legislative maneuver that still allows the full Senate to send the bill to Gov. Nathan Deal.
The measure now returns to the Senate, where its chances of passage before midnight on Thursday are unclear.
