DENVER — The deadline is looming for the Colorado lawmakers responsible for presenting a balanced budget to the full state legislature.
The Joint Budget Committee (JBC) has a tall task this year — balancing a budget with a deficit of roughly $1 billion.
"We're behind, but we will get our forecast on Monday, March 17. That's what we have to balance the budget to. So, it's not like we could be have everything balanced right now anyways, but I just think we're behind," State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-District 23, who is a member of the JBC. "It will be a long week."
Kirkmeyer said the deadline for the budget — known as the Long Bill — could come as early as March 24.
"We're in the process of making cuts, scrutinizing every fund, looking at everything. Not that we don't do that anyways, but we're doing extra, you know, extra looking at everything, to make sure that we get those cuts in because we have a constitutional mandate to have a balanced budget," Kirkmeyer said.
At the same time, members of the JBC are considering how to best serve sex assault survivors across the state who are waiting more than a year on the results of their DNA rape kits.
"We want to make sure that we try and we're doing everything we possibly can to provide for them so that they can move on, find some closure and move on," Kirkmeyer said. "I believe for all my members on the Joint Budget Committee, it's a priority for us to look at see how we can do our best. There's a timing issue here, and it's so very frustrating. I think it's frustrating for all of us."
The cases in question are caught in a backlog at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which was exacerbated by an intensive investigation into a former forensic scientist accused of mishandling DNA. Yvonne "Missy" Woods retired in Nov. 2023 after working at CBI for nearly three decades. Half of the lab work done in 2024 at CBI was dedicated to reviewing her cases.
Now, Woods faces 102 felonies. She's charged with crimes that include cybercrime, perjury and forgery.
According to CBI's new Sexual Assault Turnaround Time Dashboard, 1,462 people have sexual assault cases caught in the backlog as of Feb. 28, 2025. Those people will wait an estimated 560 days for results.
State
Colorado Bureau of Investigation launches dashboard to address rape kit backlog
"This backlog is unacceptable. We agree with that," CBI's Deputy Director of Forensic Services, Lance Allen, told the JBC on Thursday afternoon.
CBI currently has 16 DNA scientists on their staff, with another 15 in training. Allen asserted before the JBC that it takes roughly two years to train a scientist with no experience. He added that seven of the 15 scientists in training were delayed as a result of the investigation into Woods.
"Unfortunately, nationally there is a shortage of DNA scientists with experience, and so most all of us are hiring new college graduates that do not have experience," Allen told the committee. "We are always trying to hire experienced DNA scientists. There's just a limited capacity."
CBI wants to reduce their turnaround time for sexual assault evidence kit to 90 days.
"That's a goal. We had to bring it down based on that staffing and so that's where we are confident we can get to, and we won't be satisfied just with that. We will continue to work to drive it down, but we have to get there first before we can find ways to continue to push that turnaround time down," Allen said.
CBI believes they will reach a turnaround time of roughly 230 days by 2026, hitting their 90-day goal in early 2027, according to Allen.
Recently, the JBC approved the following recommendations presented by legislative staff:
- Establish local crime labs are paid $2,000 per completed rape test kit reclaimed from the CBI backlog.
- Develop a "capacity-building" payment of $1,000 for each sexual assault evidence kit tested by a local lab that was not within the backlog.
- Create a statutory position for an "independent, statewide Sexual Assault Kit Coordinator" for five years.
- Allow virtual testimony in court proceedings for crime lab scientists.
Legislative staff in support of the recommendations claim they would transform local labs into a partner that helps solve the problems at CBI.
"Some more concrete, long-term ways of addressing the backlog so that it doesn't happen again," Kelsey Harbert, a sex assault survivor who assisted in developing the recommendations, said. "If we have these other labs that are more local, but they're following the exact same procedures and the same standards that CBI has to follow because they're FBI accredited — why not use them more?"
Harbert said the intention behind the recommendations was spreading out state resources and simultaneously disseminating the number of rape kits in the CBI backlog.
"If everyone's kit is going to CBI and something goes wrong at CBI, like what happened with Missy Woods, that's it. If they have a breakdown, everyone suffers," Harbert explained. "But if we have these labs that are capable of sharing the burden, maybe taking on work from each other, if someone's struggling, if someone is understaffed, if there's a surge in crime somewhere, how can we use that?"
The statewide sexual assault kit coordinator was the recommendation closest to Harbert's heart.
"It's independent, it's victim-centered. It's someone who has survivors' best interests in mind, but has access to all agencies, municipal and state level, and has access to the legislature to flag this stuff early," Harbert said, referencing the backlog at CBI.
State
Sex assault survivors invited to town hall about CBI's backlog of DNA rape kits
CBI is asking the JBC to reconsider the recommendations.
"There are five laboratories that do DNA analysis in addition to CBI, and two of those have significant turnover right now they're working through and they said their backlogs are growing at this point," Allen told the committee.
A spokesperson with CBI sent a statement to Denver7, which said in part, that this proposal will "greatly compromise" their current plan and "slow turnaround times for victims throughout the state."
The statement continued to say that CBI is "not convinced" other regional labs have the current capacity to assist with the backlog.
"Now that we've heard from CBI that the capacity just isn't there, the ability for them to go out, even trying to incentivize, it's just not there," Kirkmeyer said following CBI's comeback to the recommendations. "Local government labs are having some of the same issues we're having. They have some backlogs, maybe not as great as what we're having, but they've got to deal with this as well. It's the same issue. Capacity is not there. It's probably not something we're going to be able to do."
On Thursday, members of the JBC were frustrated when they heard Allen mention that more funding could help with the backlog. State Sen. Jeff Bridges, D-District 26 and Chair of the JBC, asked Allen to return to the committee with a dollar amount that could help support CBI with more staffing.
"We kind of gave the signal today that we're interested in trying to get to that 90 days as quickly as possible. So, if there's the possibility of hiring some additional people and it requires some additional dollars, they should come ask for the dollars, sure," Kirkmeyer said.
Harbert hopes the JBC still considers the recommendations.
"I think writing it off without talking to municipal labs, or without having, you know, CBI provide more information on why they think the capacity isn't there — I don't think that's the right move right now," Harbert said.
CBI was given roughly $7.4 million from the State of Colorado to address the fallout from the Woods' investigation. Senate Bill 25-170, which codifies stipulations set forth in a Department of Public Safety Supplemental, will allow $3 million of that funding to roll over to 2025-26 for forensic evidence testing. The legislation also authorizes CBI to use contract labs to help with the testing.
The funding would allow them to send an estimated 1,000 cases currently waiting in the backlog to be tested at private labs, a spokesperson with CBI said.
SB25-170 is awaiting final approval from Gov. Jared Polis. The bill requires monthly updates from CBI to legislators regarding the backlog of rape kits.
According to legislative staff, the approximate $4.4 million of funding that remains was intended to reimburse judicial districts for any cost associated with the allegations surrounding Woods. Staff members told Denver7 that most of that money was never spent, and it is expected to be funneled back into the budget, helping balance the deficit in the General Fund.
The full statement from CBI in response to the recommendations is below:
We are committed to working with victims, survivors, legislators and advocates on solving this issue, and we’ve collaborated to create a plan that will reduce turnaround times and address our backlog. We are worried that this proposal - only having seen it five days ago - will greatly compromise our current plan and slow turnaround times for victims throughout the state.
Additionally, CBI is not convinced other regional labs have the current capacity to assist right now based on preliminary discussions with them. This proposal has the potential to just shift the backlog instead of addressing it, like our plan does thoroughly. CBI is convinced it’s on the right path to cut our backlog in half by this time next year and to reach our 90-day turnaround goal by Spring of 2027.
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