Leaders seek to solve snafus in felon DNA testing system

By Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) _ State lawmakers are working to fix a law passed last year that requires the collection of D-N-A from all of Hawaii's felons.

Under the original law, the collection work was to be done in phases depending on the severity of each felon's conviction.

But it turns out that sifting through files to find out who should be eligible first would take hundreds of hours.

Multiple phases also meant that testers would need to make many visits to the same prisons to swab the inside of different felons' mouths.

State Attorney General Mark Bennett spoke outside a House Judiciary Committee hearing today on a bill from Governor Lingle to make the program more efficient.

The bill would allow the testing of felons to be done en masse -- regardless of the classification of their crimes -- at each prison.

It would also make explicit that those who have been ruled not guilty by reason of insanity could also take the tests.

Another bill currently before the Senate would provide funding for the D-N-A collection program. It would give about one (m) million dollars to be used until the end of next fiscal year on June 30th, 2007.

After that the cost would be figured into the state budget.