Congress·In Committee·H.R. 3591

Carla Walker Act

Congress proposes Justice Department grants for DNA genealogy tools to help solve cold cases

StalledNext up: A house committeeNo action in 13 months

A house committee must act next: committee consideration.

Legislative Progress

House

No action since May 2025

Senate

President

Law

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from H.R. 10393 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
H.R. 10393 (118th) →

Congress would let the Justice Department give competitive grants to states, local police, prosecutors, medical examiners, and coroners to use advanced DNA testing to find new leads in cases.
The grants focus on whole-genome DNA testing and searching allowed genealogy databases when standard federal DNA database checks don’t produce a match.
Money could be used to do the testing in-house or to pay approved outside labs, including some private labs that agree to get accredited within 2 years.
The bill authorizes $5 million per year from 2024 to 2028 for DNA genealogy testing, plus another $5 million per year from 2024 to 2028 for equipment; most funds can’t be used for staffing, training, travel, or general equipment.
Grant recipients would have to keep records, follow Justice Department rules on how DNA samples and data are handled, and report results like how many cases led to identifications or arrests and how long it took.

Criminal JusticeTechnologyData Privacy