COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. Mike DeWine is asking Ohio lawmakers to revise the state’s rape-kit testing law after more than 900 law enforcement agencies failed to report any rape-kit results to the Attorney General’s Office in 2025. DeWine and Attorney General Andy Wilson are creating a working group to develop recommendations for lawmakers. The proposals are expected to be considered during the Legislature’s post-election lame-duck session later this year. The law requires police departments to have sexual-assault kits tested and report the results, although agencies do not have to submit information when no biological evidence was collected, stored or recovered during an investigation. DeWine said the state’s reporting system has become difficult to interpret and use, creating what he described as a second kind of backlog at local police departments. Some departments may not be sending kits to crime laboratories, while others may be uncertain about what information they must report. “There are two different types of backlogs,” DeWine said. “You have a backlog that’s created at the local police department because they’re not getting the rape kit out to a crime lab. It’s not clear exactly what should be reported and it’s not easy to report it.” He said any rewrite should establish clear requirements that police departments can follow consistently. The issue is especially significant because Ohio recorded about 3,800 reported sexual assaults in 2025, a figure that does not include assaults that were never reported to police. Rape kits can contain DNA evidence that helps identify perpetrators and connect cases that otherwise might appear unrelated. DeWine previously led a statewide effort to eliminate thousands of untested kits while serving as attorney general. He said the backlog had been cleared by the time he left that office to become governor in 2019. State Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, a Lakewood Democrat, said the current reporting failures show that past promises to prevent another backlog were not enough. She called for specific deadlines and consequences when agencies fail to comply. “It boggles your mind, especially when we went through this, when we went through the backlog and everybody put their hands up and said, ‘Oh, this will never happen again,’” Antonio said. Antonio said lawmakers need more information about which agencies did not test or report kits and how departments interpreted their responsibilities under the existing law. Sexual-violence advocates said clearer rules are necessary but cautioned that survivors must remain at the center of any changes. Taylr Ucker-Lauderman of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence said agencies appear to have adopted different interpretations of their testing and reporting duties. “We want to make sure, from our end, that survivors continue to be at the center,” Ucker-Lauderman said. “They’ve already been through enough.” Ucker-Lauderman said timely testing can benefit not only an individual survivor’s case but also other investigations. A kit may provide evidence in a separate case, even when a survivor chooses not to pursue charges or when a particular investigation does not move forward. The working group’s recommendations could determine whether Ohio’s next approach relies on clearer reporting standards, mandatory timelines, enforcement measures or a combination of those tools.