34 U.S.C. § 12591 — Quality assurance and proficiency test-

Page 407 TITLE 34—CRIME CONTROL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT § 12591 1 See References in Text note below. SEC. 2. Membership. (a) The Task Force shall be com- posed of not more than eleven members appointed by the President. The members shall include distinguished individuals with relevant experience or subject-matter expertise in law enforcement, civil rights, and civil lib- erties. (b) The President shall designate two members of the Task Force to serve as Co-Chairs. SEC. 3. Mission. (a) The Task Force shall, consistent with applicable law, identify best practices and other- wise make recommendations to the President on how policing practices can promote effective crime reduc- tion while building public trust. (b) The Task Force shall be solely advisory and shall submit a report to the President by March 2, 2015. SEC. 4. Administration. (a) The Task Force shall hold public meetings and engage with Federal, State, tribal, and local officials, technical advisors, and nongovern- mental organizations, among others, as necessary to carry out its mission. (b) The Director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services shall serve as Executive Director of the Task Force and shall, as directed by the Co-Chairs, convene regular meetings of the Task Force and super- vise its work. (c) In carrying out its mission, the Task Force shall be informed by, and shall strive to avoid duplicating, the efforts of other governmental entities. (d) The Department of Justice shall provide adminis- trative services, funds, facilities, staff, equipment, and other support services as may be necessary for the Task Force to carry out its mission to the extent per- mitted by law and subject to the availability of appro- priations. (e) Members of the Task Force shall serve without any additional compensation for their work on the Task Force, but shall be allowed travel expenses, in- cluding per diem, to the extent permitted by law for persons serving intermittently in the Government serv- ice (5 U.S.C. 5701–5707). SEC. 5. Termination. The Task Force shall terminate 30 days after the President requests a final report from the Task Force. SEC. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to a department, agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Man- agement and Budget relating to budgetary, administra- tive, or legislative proposals. (b) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforce- able at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. (c) Insofar as the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended ([former] 5 U.S.C. App.) [see 5 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.] (the ‘‘Act’’) may apply to the Task Force, any functions of the President under the Act, except for those in section 6 of the Act, shall be performed by the Attorney General. BARACK OBAMA. PART A—DNA IDENTIFICATION § 12591. Quality assurance and proficiency test- ing standards (a) Publication of quality assurance and pro- ficiency testing standards (1)(A) Not later than 180 days after September 13, 1994, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall appoint an advisory board on DNA quality assurance methods from among nominations proposed by the head of the Na- tional Academy of Sciences and professional so- cieties of crime laboratory officials. (B) The advisory board shall include as mem- bers scientists from State, local, and private fo- rensic laboratories, molecular geneticists and population geneticists not affiliated with a fo- rensic laboratory, and a representative from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. (C) The advisory board shall develop, and if ap- propriate, periodically revise, recommended standards for quality assurance, including standards for testing the proficiency of forensic laboratories, and forensic analysts, in con- ducting analyses of DNA. (2) The Director of the Federal Bureau of In- vestigation, after taking into consideration such recommended standards, shall issue (and revise from time to time) standards for quality assur- ance, including standards for testing the pro- ficiency of forensic laboratories, and forensic analysts, in conducting analyses of DNA. (3) The standards described in paragraphs (1) and (2) shall specify criteria for quality assur- ance and proficiency tests to be applied to the various types of DNA analyses used by forensic laboratories. The standards shall also include a system for grading proficiency testing perform- ance to determine whether a laboratory is per- forming acceptably. (4) Until such time as the advisory board has made recommendations to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Direc- tor has acted upon those recommendations, the quality assurance guidelines adopted by the technical working group on DNA analysis meth- ods shall be deemed the Director’s standards for purposes of this section. (5)(A) In addition to issuing standards as pro- vided in paragraphs (1) through (4), the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall issue standards and procedures for the use of Rapid DNA instruments and resulting DNA analyses. (B) In this Act, the term ‘‘Rapid DNA instru- ments’’ means instrumentation that carries out a fully automated process to derive a DNA anal- ysis from a DNA sample. (b) Administration of advisory board (1) For administrative purposes, the advisory board appointed under subsection (a) shall be considered an advisory board to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2) Section 1013 of title 5 shall not apply with respect to the advisory board appointed under subsection (a). (3) The DNA advisory board established under this section shall be separate and distinct from any other advisory board administered by the FBI, and is to be administered separately. (4) The board shall cease to exist on the date 5 years after the initial appointments are made to the board, unless the existence of the board is extended by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (c) Proficiency testing program (1) Not later than 1 year after the effective date of this Act,1 the Director of the National Institute of Justice shall certify to the Commit- tees on the Judiciary of the House and Senate that— (A) the Institute has entered into a contract with, or made a grant to, an appropriate enti- Page 408 TITLE 34—CRIME CONTROL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT § 12592 ty for establishing, or has taken other appro- priate action to ensure that there is estab- lished, not later than 2 years after September 13, 1994, a blind external proficiency testing program for DNA analyses, which shall be available to public and private laboratories performing forensic DNA analyses; (B) a blind external proficiency testing pro- gram for DNA analyses is already readily available to public and private laboratories performing forensic DNA analyses; or (C) it is not feasible to have blind external testing for DNA forensic analyses. (2) As used in this subsection, the term ‘‘blind external proficiency test’’ means a test that is presented to a forensic laboratory through a sec- ond agency and appears to the analysts to in- volve routine evidence. (3) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Attorney General shall make available to the Director of the National Institute of Jus- tice during the first fiscal year in which funds are distributed under this subtitle up to $250,000 from the funds available under part X of Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 [34 U.S.C. 10511 et seq.] to carry out this subsection. (Pub. L. 103–322, title XXI, § 210303, Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2068; Pub. L. 115–50, § 2(a), Aug. 18, 2017, 131 Stat. 1001; Pub. L. 117–286, § 4(a)(211), Dec. 27, 2022, 136 Stat. 4329.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT This Act, referred to in subsec. (a)(5)(B), probably means the DNA Identification Act of 1994, which is sub- title C (§§ 210301–210306) of title XXI of Pub. L. 103–322, Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2065. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title of 1994 Act note set out under section 10101 of this title and Tables. The effective date of this Act, referred to in subsec. (c)(1), probably means the date of enactment of Pub. L. 103–322, which was approved Sept. 13, 1994. This subtitle, referred to in subsec. (c)(3), is subtitle C (§§ 210301–210306) of title XXI of Pub. L. 103–322, Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2065, known as the DNA Identification Act of 1994. For complete classification of this subtitle to the Code, see Short Title of 1994 Act note set out under section 10101 of this title and Tables. The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, referred to in subsec. (c)(3), is Pub. L. 90–351, June 19, 1968, 82 Stat. 197. Part X of title I of the Act is clas- sified generally to subchapter XXIII (§ 10511 et seq.) of chapter 101 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title of 1968 Act note set out under section 10101 of this title and Tables. CODIFICATION Section was formerly classified to section 14131 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to edi- torial reclassification and renumbering as this section. AMENDMENTS 2022—Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 117–286 substituted ‘‘Sec- tion 1013 of title 5’’ for ‘‘Section 14 of the Federal Advi- sory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.)’’. 2017—Subsec. (a)(5). Pub. L. 115–50 added par. (5). § 12592. Index to facilitate law enforcement ex- change of DNA identification information (a) Establishment of index The Director of the Federal Bureau of Inves- tigation may establish an index of— (1) DNA identification records of— (A) persons convicted of crimes; (B) persons who have been charged in an indictment or information with a crime; and (C) other persons whose DNA samples are collected under applicable legal authorities, provided that DNA samples that are volun- tarily submitted solely for elimination pur- poses shall not be included in the National DNA Index System; (2) analyses of DNA samples recovered from crime scenes; (3) analyses of DNA samples recovered from unidentified human remains; and (4) analyses of DNA samples voluntarily con- tributed from relatives of missing persons. (b) Information The index described in subsection (a) shall in- clude only information on DNA identification records and DNA analyses that are— (1) based on analyses performed by or on be- half of a criminal justice agency (or the Sec- retary of Defense in accordance with section 1565 of title 10) in accordance with publicly available standards that satisfy or exceed the guidelines for a quality assurance program for DNA analysis, issued by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation under section 12591 of this title; (2) prepared by— (A) laboratories that— (i) have been accredited by a nonprofit professional association of persons ac- tively involved in forensic science that is nationally recognized within the forensic science community; and (ii) undergo external audits, not less than once every 2 years, that demonstrate compliance with standards established by the Director of the Federal Bureau of In- vestigation; or (B) criminal justice agencies using Rapid DNA instruments approved by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in compliance with the standards and proce- dures issued by the Director under section 12591(a)(5) of this title; and (3) maintained by Federal, State, and local criminal justice agencies (or the Secretary of Defense in accordance with section 1565 of title 10) pursuant to rules that allow disclo- sure of stored DNA samples and DNA analyses only— (A) to criminal justice agencies for law en- forcement identification purposes; (B) in judicial proceedings, if otherwise ad- missible pursuant to applicable statutes or rules; (C) for criminal defense purposes, to a de- fendant, who shall have access to samples and analyses performed in connection with the case in which such defendant is charged; or (D) if personally identifiable information is removed, for a population statistics data- base, for identification research and protocol development purposes, or for quality control purposes. (c) Failure to comply Access to the index established by this section is subject to cancellation if the quality control