Obama Signs 2 Bills Into Law With N.M. Origins

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Thursday signed two bills into law with New Mexico origins — a measure encouraging states to gather DNA from suspects charged with serious crimes and legislation establishing a registry for service members sickened by burn pits at military sites.

The DNA bill honors Katie Sepich, a New Mexico State University student who was raped and murdered in 2003. Sepich’s killer was arrested the same year for unrelated crimes, but he was not identified in the Sepich killing because New Mexico did not collect DNA from people arrested for felonies. Three years later — after the criminal was convicted of another crime and New Mexico had implemented a DNA law — he was identified with DNA evidence.

The new federal legislation, initially sponsored by then-Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M. in 2010 and re-introduced by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., in 2011, would authorize the Department of Justice to award grants to cover up to 100 percent of a state’s first year cost of implementing a DNA collection program. Currently, 25 states collect DNA evidence in felony cases and 25 do not.

The Udall bill is intended to encourage more states to implement DNA collection programs, which allow law enforcement to compare DNA collected from adults who are arrested or charged with certain serious crimes against the FBI’s DNA database, known as CODIS. Those crimes include homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary and aggravated assault.

Jayann Sepich, Katie’s mother, told the Journal on Thursday she was “thrilled” that Obama signed the bill into law.

“It’s going to be easier to get states to pass arrestee DNA testing laws, and it means criminals will be identified and taken off the streets and more lives saved,” said Sepich, who lives in Carlsbad.

The burn pit registry, also introduced by Udall, would establish a registry to help the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs better understand how air pollution caused by open-air burn pits of trash and other waste at military sites has led to diseases among service members. The bill also aims to help veterans get more information about the issue.

Master Sgt. Jessey Baca, a South Valley man diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, mesothelial hyperplasia and constrictive bronchiolitis after serving in Iraq, prompted the legislation.

According to Udall’s office, as early as 2002, U.S. military installations in Afghanistan and Iraq began to rely on open-air burn pits to dispose of waste materials. Baca and others contend that materials burned — ranging from everyday trash to chemicals, medical waste and plastics — create a toxic smoke that made them gravely ill.

A General Accounting Office study in 2010 found more than 200 military burn pits in operation in Afghanistan and more than 20 operating in Iraq.

“Just as our veterans have answered the call of duty for our country, we have answered their call for better information,” Udall said Thursday. “Today brings us closer to insuring this special population receives the care and treatment they deserve.”
— This article appeared on page C2 of the Albuquerque Journal