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The Paul Coverdell National Forensic Sciences Act of 2000 IMPORTANT: We will soon have a petition online urging Congress to renew the Coverdell Act. In the meantime, you can contact your legislators to ask them to do so—please let us know who you've contacted and when (so that we can follow up with your legislators) by sending an e-mail to congress@crimelabproject.com. House: http://www.house.gov Senate: http://www.senate.gov WHAT IS THE COVERDELL ACT? The Coverdell National Forensic Sciences Act was named in memory of Senator Paul Coverdell, who fought tirelessly for better support for forensic science labs. In the 106th Congress in 2000, both House and Senate unanimously passed the Coverdell Act, which was then signed into law by the president. In effect, however, the law only created the bank account for crime lab funding, without actually depositing anything into it -- each year, only a small fraction of needed federal funds have been spent on Coverdell. Federal funding requires both authorization and appropriation. (To learn more about the federal budget process, click here.) Appropriation is the actual "deposit" into the Coverdell grant program. Of the total amount authorized for the Coverdell Act, little has been appropriated. These figures are from the National Institute of Justice Website's information on the Coverdell Act. 2001 - Authorized: $35 million Actually appropriated: ZERO 2002 - Authorized: $85.4 million Actually appropriated: $5 million 2003 - Authorized: over $134.7 million Actually appropriated: $5 million 2004 - Authorized: over $128 million Actually appropriated: $10 million 2005 - Authorized over $56.7 million Actually appropriated: *Not posted on NIJ's Web site yet, the amount was approx $15 million 2006 - Authorized over $42 million Actually appropriated: *Not posted on NIJ's Web site yet, the amount was approx $18 million These amounts are divided among all fifty states, five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia through a grant process. Previous bills giving funds for labs were often heavily earmarked, which means that relatively few labs benefitted from them. The Coverdell Act makes funds available to all state and local labs. Currently, some members of Congress are focusing only on DNA backlog funding. While DNA funding is important, labs must have Coverdell funding to meet their overall needs -- even to process DNA. Here are the facts from the Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations*: (*The CFSO's highly respected member organizations include the American Society of Crime Lab Directors, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, the National Association of Medical Examiners, the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors - Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB), and Forensic Quality Services (FQS) (the latter two offer laboratory accreditation programs for crime labs.) Request: Support full funding for the Paul Coverdell National Forensic Sciences Act of 2000 at the authorized level of $135 million. Why Support the Paul Coverdell National Forensic Sciences Act of 2000:
The American Society of Crime Lab Directors conducted a survey in 2003 of state and local forensic laboratories, which pointed out some of the critical needs of our nation's forensic community. These included:
Click here to find out ways to help! 
Last updated: March 27, 2006 |
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