Administering Entity
Pennsylvania State Police Forensic Services Division
- SB 912 (2025, died) – Would add 44 Pa.C.S. §2316(c.1) requiring a DNA sample at the time fingerprints are taken under 18 Pa.C.S. §9112 from anyone arrested for criminal homicide, a felony sex offense, any other felony, any Title 18 or Title 75 first-degree misdemeanor, or a registrable misdemeanor — broader than felonies alone — with the sample submitted to State Police within 48 hours and no release until DNA and prints are collected; it does not apply where the person is proceeded against by summons. Arrestee samples would be stored in a separate category of the State DNA Data Base (new §2319(d)), and the bill phases in by offense type: homicide at six months, felony sex offenses at one year, other specified offenses at 18 months. It also expands court-ordered expungement grounds to include dismissal with prosecution barred, acquittal, arrest for a non-qualifying offense, prosecutorial declination, and expiration of the statute of limitations, extends DA notice from 10 to 30 days, and adds expungement counts to the State Police annual report.
- HB 1179 (2025, died) – Genetic Materials Privacy and Compensation Act. Would require genetic material testing entities and third parties to prominently disclose, separate from any privacy policy, what genetic material is collected and shared, with whom, for what purpose, and any data-sharing agreement with a federal, state, or local law enforcement or other government agency, and to obtain affirmative express consent before collecting. Section 3(b)(3) is the forensic hook: no entity may provide genetic material information to law enforcement without a warrant or the individual’s explicit affirmative permission — and the definition of “genetic material testing entity” expressly includes a law enforcement agency. Also bars sale or donation without authorization plus compensation of at least 90% of proceeds, bars insurer and employer database requests, requires destruction of pre-enactment material within 120 days and of any individual’s material within 30 days of request, and enforces through the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law.
- HB 2530 (2025, died) – Would rewrite 44 Pa.C.S. §2321(b.1) to make DNA expungement automatic and court-initiated where a conviction or delinquency adjudication has been reversed with no appeal pending, or the person received an unconditional pardon, rather than requiring the individual to apply. Clerks of court would notify the president judge upon a reversal, and the Board of Pardons would transmit pardon notices quarterly through the AOPC to the county of original charge, with the court then determining eligibility and issuing the expungement order on its own. Individual petitions would remain available at no cost for mistaken inclusions and for cases where an automatic order should have issued but did not; the existing bar for anyone convicted or adjudicated delinquent of another qualifying offense is preserved.
Arrestees: No.
Convicted Offenders: Yes.
Qualifying Crimes: Adult conviction or juvenile delinquency adjudication for a felony sex offense — or for an attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to commit a felony — and for these other specified offenses: (1) A felony offense; (2) An offense under 18 Pa.C.S. (relating to crimes and offenses) or 75 Pa.C.S. (relating to vehicles) that is graded as a misdemeanor of the first degree; (3) A misdemeanor offense requiring registration as a sexual offender; (4) An offense graded as a misdemeanor of the second degree including simple assault; false imprisonment; indecent exposure; theft and related offenses; bad checks; access device fraud; intimidation of witnesses or victims; retaliation against witness, victim or party; intimidation, retaliation or obstruction in child abuse cases; escape; flight to avoid apprehension, trial or punishment; recruiting criminal gang members; abuse of corpse; cruelty to animals; prostitution and related offenses. May also be required as a condition of acceptance into Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) as a result of a criminal charge for a felony sex offense or other specified offense filed after June 18, 2002
Time of Collection: At intake to a prison, jail, juvenile detention facility, or other detention facility or institution; after sentencing at the place of confinement, for those already incarcerated; as a condition of sentencing, for those not incarcerated; and, for anyone incarcerated on or after June 18, 2002 for a qualifying offense, before release. No sample will be taken if a sample from the person has already been validly collected and the record exists in the database. When the state accepts an offender from another state and the offender is or has been convicted or adjudicated of a felony sex offense or offense determined by the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, then within 5 working days after reporting to the supervising agent or of notice to the offender.
Expungement: Two routes: a written request to the State Police on the ground that the sample entered the State DNA Data Base by mistake; or a request by the person sampled asking the court of common pleas in the county where the original charges were filed to order expungement, in the following instances: (i) the conviction or delinquency adjudication has been reversed and no appeal is pending; (ii) the person was granted an unconditional pardon; or (iii) the request for removal due to mistake was erroneously refused by the State Police. The above does not apply if the person has been convicted or adjudicated delinquent for any other crime for which a DNA sample is required to be collected.
Statutes / Case Law
44 Pa. C.S.A. § 2303. Definitions
44 Pa. C.S.A. § 2311. Powers and duties of State Police
44 Pa. C.S.A. § 2316.1. Collection from persons accepted from other jurisdictions
44 Pa. C.S.A. § 2317. Procedures for collection and transmission of DNA samples
44 Pa. C.S.A. § 2318. Procedures for Conduct, Disposition and Use of DNA Analysis
44 Pa. C.S.A. § 2321. Expungement
Legislative History
- Act 14 of 1995 (1st Special Session) — Act of May 28, 1995, P.L. 1009, No. 14. The DNA Detection of Sexual and Violent Offenders Act. Provided for DNA testing of certain offenders, established the State DNA Data Base and State DNA Data Bank, set State Police duties, imposed costs on offenders, and established the DNA Detection Fund. Section 306 — the predecessor of § 2316 — required a sample upon conviction, delinquency adjudication, and certain ARD cases, drawn at intake to a prison, jail, or juvenile detention facility, or immediately after sentencing if already confined. Coverage was limited to felony sex offenses plus a narrow “other specified offense” list: murder (18 Pa.C.S. § 2502), stalking under § 2709(c)(2)(ii), and indecent assault (§ 3126), including attempt, conspiracy, and solicitation. Now repealed and replaced by Chapter 23, but continued by Act 185.
- HB 835 (2004) → Act 185 of 2004, Act of Nov. 30, 2004, P.L. 1428, No. 185. Amended Titles 42 and 44, recodifying the DNA data and testing provisions into 44 Pa.C.S. Chapter 23, including § 2316. Further provided for genetic identification evidence, scope, policy, the definitions of “DNA record” and “other specified offense,” required DNA samples, and expungement, and added a good faith provision. Section 4 expressly continued the 1995 act.
- SB 1183 (2011) → Act 111 of 2011, Act of Dec. 20, 2011, P.L. 446, No. 111, effective one year after enactment. Pennsylvania’s SORNA implementation act, extensively revising sex offender registration across Titles 18, 23, 42, 44 and 61 pursuant to the federal mandate, with editorial changes. Its Title 44 amendments reached the § 2303 definitions — adding “Y chromosome analysis” and expanding “other specified offense” — altering which offenses trigger the § 2316 collection mandate without amending § 2316 itself.
- SB 916 (2018) → Act 147 of 2018, Act of Oct. 24, 2018, P.L. 896, No. 147, most provisions effective in 360 days. An omnibus amending Titles 42 and 44, and the most significant direct revision of the chapter. It opened with legislative findings that postconviction DNA testing has exonerated the wrongfully convicted and identified real perpetrators, and that pretrial DNA testing of evidence is encouraged to prevent wrongful convictions and lead to earlier detection of actual perpetrators. It amended § 9543.1 (postconviction DNA testing) and, within Chapter 23, further provided for policy, definitions, State Police powers and duties, the State DNA Data Base and Data Bank, State Police recommendation of additional offenses, procedural compatibility with the FBI, and the § 2316 collection mandate. Added § 2316(d.1), mandatory submission regardless of whether a court advised the person of the requirement; addressed collection as a condition of release, probation or parole, reaching persons already on supervision; enacted new § 2316.1 for collection from persons accepted from other jurisdictions; and amended the withdrawal, collection and transmission procedures, the conduct and use of DNA analysis, data base exchange, and expungement. It also substantially expanded the “other specified offense” definition in § 2303.
- HB 930 (2022) → Act 4 of 2022, Act of Feb. 3, 2022, P.L. 16, No. 4, effective in 60 days. An omnibus amending Titles 18 and 44. In the kidnapping provisions it further provided for missing children; in DNA data and testing it further provided for policy, definitions, and the State DNA Data Base, and added new sections for collection of DNA in investigations of high-risk missing persons and missing children, in investigations of missing persons, and in investigations of unidentified decedents — codified at §§ 2316.2, 2316.3 and 2316.4. Added definitions including “high-risk missing person” and references to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
- Pennsylvania State Police is using Rapid DNA for casework.
- As of May 5, 2026, it has been extended to municipal agencies to solve time-sensitive cases.
- See Bensalem Township Police Department in Bucks County – establishing Local DNA Database supported by Rapid DNA for criminal investigations and DVI.
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