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Attorney General Kamala Harris made the announcement on Wednesday.
That backlog had reportedly affected law enforcement agencies across the state, including here in Lake County, as criminal cases rely on the state’s testing services.
"DNA testing is a powerful law enforcement resource – a smart on crime tool that we're using in cutting edge ways in California," Harris said. "Public safety is too important not to embrace innovation and adopt technology where needed. Crime scene evidence is too important to sit unanalyzed for months, while the victims await justice."
Harris made DNA testing a priority in 2011, because of the direct link between timely investigations and successful prosecutions.
Along with committing resources and encouraging Department of Justice labs to improve their procedures, the attorney general introduced new technology that dramatically increased the speed with which cases are analyzed.
Using robotics, an extraction method in sexual assault evidence analysis that once took two days now takes just two hours.
As a result of these efficiencies, state forensic analysts – for the first time ever – eliminated the backlog of untested evidence.
In 2011, the Department's Bureau of Forensic Services analyzed 5,400 evidence samples – an increase of 11 percent from 2010 (4,800) and 24 percent from 2009 (4,100).
As part of the DNA analysis, evidence samples are run through the CAL-DNA Data Bank. A "hit" occurs when DNA evidence from an unsolved crime sample matches a DNA profile from evidence in another case or the DNA profile of an offender or arrestee in the data bank.
The Bureau of Forensic Services operates 13 regional laboratories, seven of which perform DNA testing of biological evidence to assist local agencies in solving sexual assault cases and other crimes of violence.
The seven DNA labs are located in Ripon (near Modesto), Fresno, Redding, Riverside, Sacramento, Santa Barbara and Richmond. The Bureau serves 47 of California's 58 counties.
The CAL-DNA Data Bank contains the DNA profiles of 1.8 million offenders and arrestees in California, as well as crime scene evidence. It is the largest working DNA data bank in the United States and the fourth largest in the world.
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The Governor’s Office said the package is part of Brown’s ongoing efforts to spur job creation, streamline regulations and boost renewable energy.
“These reforms will fast-track key projects that put Californians to work,” said Governor Brown. “Like California, CEQA must be more nimble.”
The package of CEQA reforms was released Wednesday by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and provide the regulatory changes necessary to implement SB 226 (Simitian), which the governor signed last October.
Once these draft reforms are finalized, the Governor’s Office said they will simplify the approval process for infill projects by eliminating repetitive studies of environmental effects already addressed in other planning documents, such as general plans and zoning codes.
That will reportedly help reduce the time and cost often associated with infill projects, while also allowing cities to focus on new or unique projects that help create jobs, revitalize cities and promote transit.
SB 226 also removes hurdles to harnessing solar energy and growing green-collar jobs by exempting solar projects located on existing rooftops and parking lots.
Earlier this month, Gov. Brown issued proposed implementation guidelines for AB 900 (Buchanan), signed last September.
AB 900 sends CEQA litigation for certain large projects directly to the Court of Appeal and requires a decision on the merits in a short timeframe. The law also offers immediate help to projects that provide California with the most economic and environmental benefit.
Together, CEQA reforms in SB 226 and AB 900 will reduce repetitive documentation and expedite litigation timelines while preserving informed decision-making and mitigation of environmental harm, according to the Governor’s Office.
The SB 226 guidelines, released today, can be found at www.opr.ca.gov/s_sb266.php.
The AB 900 guidelines, released last month, can be found at http://opr.ca.gov/s_californiajobs.php.
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Up for election this year are the seats for Supervisorial Districts 1, 4 and 5, currently held by Jim Comstock, Anthony Farrington and Rob Brown, respectively.
Also on the ballot are the seats for the four Lake County Superior Court judges, according to the Lake County Registrar of Voters.
At this time community members can take out a candidate intention statement, or Form 501, required by the Fair Political Practices Commission. The form must be filed with the Registrar of Voters Office before candidates solicit or receive contributions, and before they make candidacy-related expenditures.
They also can file petitions to submit signatures in lieu of filing fees.
For judicial candidates, the in-lieu petitions can be filed through Feb. 8, with the judicial period for filing declaration of intention paperwork running from Jan. 30 through Feb. 8.
Candidates for the other county elected offices have until Feb. 23 to submit in-lieu petitions, with the time frame for declaration of candidacy and nomination papers taking place from Feb. 13 through March 9, according to a Registrar of Voters elections calendar.
In District 1 – which covers a portion of southern Lake County, including Middletown, Hidden Valley Lake and Lower Lake, as well as a portion of Cobb – Comstock has taken out a Form 501 and the in-lieu petition, the Elections Office reported.
Challenging Comstock, who is nearing the completion of his first term, is Lower Lake resident and environmental advocate Victoria Brandon, who has pulled the same paperwork, according to election records.
For District 4, which covers the Lakeport area, Farrington has taken out a Form 501 but not an in-lieu petition, records show.
Taking out the necessary paperwork to run against him is Lakeport resident Fred Langston, owner of Lake County Martial Arts.
In District 5, which predominantly covers Kelseyville and a portion of Cobb, Rob Brown also is seeking reelection and has taken out the Form 501 and in-lieu petition. Election records show he’ll be challenged by Joan Moss of Cobb.
For the judicial seats, so far only one – that of Judge David Herrick in Lake County Superior Court Department 1 – is contested. Herrick told Lake County News earlier this month that he was not intending to seek reelection this year.
Beginning the process to run for Herrick’s seat are attorneys Michael Friel of Kelseyville and Michael Lunas of Lakeport, and Deputy District Attorney Susan Krones of Lakeport, the Elections Office reported.
For the judicial seats in Lake County Superior Court Departments 2, 3 and 4 – held by Richard Martin, Andrew Blum and Stephen Hedstrom, respectively – so far only the incumbents have taken out the Form 501 and the in-lieu petitions, elections records showed.
Regarding state races, Assemblymember Mariko Yamada (D-Davis) said she will seek office for the newly drawn Assembly District Four, which will represent all or part of Lake, Colusa, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.
Assemblyman Wes Chesbro, who currently represents Lake County in the Legislature, will run for the new Second Assembly District.
In the new Third Congressional District, which represents the upper two-thirds of Lake County, a six-member field has formed. It includes Tony Carlos, Timothy Core, John Garamendi, Charlie Schaupp, Rick Tubbs and Kim Dolbow Vann, as Lake County News has reported.
Congressman Mike Thompson – who has represented all of Lake County for many years in the House of Representatives – will run for reelection in the new Fifth Congressional District, which covers the lower third of Lake County.
So far no opponents have filed to run against him, according to the Federal Election Commission.
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The president's annual State of the Union address laid out an ambitious set of goals to create jobs, stabilize the economy and rebuild the national spirit, and gained praised from Lake County's congressman.
President Barack Obama’s optimistic Tuesday night address to Congress and the nation called for all Americans to work together to keep the country moving forward.
“I thought it might have been one of the best State of the Union addresses that I’ve heard,” Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) told Lake County News afterward. “He said things tonight that every American knows and feels.”
Thompson said Obama outlined the country’s challenges, reminded Americans of how working together is what made America great and spoke to specifics here at home, including increasing manufacturing jobs.
The president also “had some pretty tough lines in here,” said Thompson, noting, “He was not bashful on calling Congress out.”
Sen. Barbara Boxer said the president laid out a blueprint “for building an economy that works for every American.”
Obama's “eloquent optimism,” said Boxer, “stands in marked contrast to the angry tone Americans have been hearing on the campaign trail from his opponents.”
In his 65-minute address Obama called for a number of measures to reinvigorate the economy, create jobs and rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.
“There’s never been a better time to build,” he said.
Obama also promised to get rid of useless regulations, establish a financial fraud unit and wanted to stop a tax hike on 150 million Americans while the recovery is still fragile.
He urged Congress to make the tax code fairer to the lower and middle classes, noting that the country can’t keep taxes on the rich low while investing in important programs and paying down the debt.
Obama also called on Congress to address the “corrosive” power of money in politics by banning insider trading and preventing legislators from holding stocks in industries they impact.
He said the temperature in Washington needed to be lowered, and must be an end to the idea that Republicans and Democrats have to be locked in a campaign of perpetual destruction.
Obama said the country can continue making progress. “And I can do a whole lot more with your help,” he said, adding that when it’s people are working together, there is nothing the United States can’t achieve.
Anyone who says America’s influence has waned “doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” said Obama, explaining that America remains indispensable in world affairs.
Recalling the day Osama bin Laden was killed last year, Obama said in the situation room were people of all political affiliations, yet “all that mattered that day was the mission.”
He added, “No one thought about politics. No one thought about themselves.”
Obama said if the country maintained a common resolve it can continue moving forward, ending with the declaration that the state of the union remains strong.
Following the speech, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels delivered the Republican Party’s response, saying the “loyal opposition” saluted Obama for pursuing the murderers of Sept. 11 and addressing needed changes to public education.
But Daniels said that while Obama didn’t cause the nation’s economic crisis, he had failed to fix it, and argued that Obama’s policies had in fact made the situation worse.
The Republicans promoted a simpler tax code, ridding the nation of expensive new regulations and uniting to save and repair the “safety net” – Medicare and Social Security, Daniels said.
Daniels also said it wasn’t fair of Obama to accuse Republicans of creating obstacles in Congress, and accused Obama of “constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others.”
“As in previous moments of national danger, we Americans are all in the same boat,” Daniels said. “If we drift, quarreling and paralyzed, over a Niagara of debt, we will all suffer, regardless of income, race, gender, or other category. If we fail to shift to a pro-jobs, pro-growth economic policy, there will never be enough public revenue to pay for our safety net, national security, or whatever size government we decide to have.”
Boxer said she welcomed Obama's call to action “for us to work together to strengthen the middle class, create clean energy jobs, help responsible homeowners stay in their homes, protect the environment from toxins such as mercury and rebuild America’s infrastructure.”
She added, “I will do everything I can to bridge the partisan divide and we can start right away by passing a bipartisan surface transportation bill that saves or creates millions of jobs.”
Thompson said Obama's call for rebuilding of infrastructure would provide jobs in Lake County.
The improvements needed on Highway 29 in Lake County alone could produce 900 jobs, he said, and the call for building a new economy based on energy outlines the importance of the county’s geothermal industry.
Thompson said it was important for Obama to discuss the mortgage crisis; if the nation doesn’t deal with it, it will take forever to get the economy back in shape.
Last week Thompson and Democratic members of the California Congressional Delegation sent Obama a letter asking him to immediately address the foreclosure crisis, as Lake County News has reported.
“This is not our first bite of the apple on the mortgage issue with the administration,” said Thompson.
In the address Obama had mentioned a plan to allow homeowners to refinance at current, lower interest rates, which Thompson said is the right thing to do and is estimated to put an additional $3,000 in qualifying homeowners' pockets each year.
Obama’s significant goals, such as tax code changes, will require Congress to work together, he said.
As for whether Obama can accomplish his goals in the deeply partisan atmosphere – and in the midst of an election year – Thompson said he’s the eternal optimist.
He said he’s going to continue to work as hard as he can to make sure some of the president’s goals can be accomplished.
Thompson said he hopes the address ultimately will mean more than just pomp and circumstance.
“The truth is, it’s up to all of us to make it happen,” he said.
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