Alaska

At a glance

Oversight body

No forensic science commission or crime lab oversight body was found. The Department of Public Safety runs the DNA identification registration system (AS 44.41.035), approves breath and blood testing methods and analyst training standards (AS 28.35.033(d)), and since July 1, 2026 runs the sexual assault kit tracking system (AS 44.41.067, enacted by HB 239, ch. 9 SLA 26). No statute creating the state crime laboratory was found in the titles searched.

Lab accreditation

No general crime lab accreditation statute. Sexual assault kits must go “to an accredited laboratory in coordination with the Department of Public Safety or a laboratory operated by the Department of Public Safety” (AS 44.41.065(a), enacted in 2019 and restated by HB 239 in 2026); the accreditation wording does not reach the Department’s own labs. A lab the applicant selects for post-conviction DNA testing must follow the federal DNA quality assurance standards and be accredited by ASCLD/LAB or accepted as equivalent by the Department (AS 12.73.050). Facilities used for remote autopsies must meet the National Association of Medical Examiners Forensic Autopsy Performance Standards, including accreditation (AS 12.65.025).

Analyst licensing

None. For breath and blood alcohol tests, the Department of Public Safety approves methods and “standards of training necessary to ascertain the qualifications of individuals to conduct the analysis”; a test by a person trained to those standards is presumed valid (AS 28.35.033(d)).

Admissibility standard

Daubert, adopted in State v. Coon, 974 P.2d 386 (Alaska 1999), and abrogated on the standard of appellate review by State v. Sharpe (Alaska 2019). In Bragaw v. State (Alaska App. 2021), the court applied the “Daubert/Coon standard” and held that the drug recognition expert protocol is scientific evidence subject to it. Alaska Evidence Rule 702(a) keeps the pre-2000 federal wording; its last amendment was SCO 1281, effective August 7, 1997 (Rules of Evidence). Alaska has not adopted the 2023 change to Federal Rule 702.

Post-conviction forensic relief

No. Post-conviction DNA testing (AS 12.73.010 to .090) covers felonies against a person under AS 11.41, and retesting is allowed “using a method or technology” substantially more probative. The newly discovered evidence ground (AS 12.72.010(4)) is general. Neither addresses new or changed scientific evidence as such.

DNA database scope

Arrestee-based. Samples are taken on conviction of a crime against a person (AS 11.41) or a felony under AS 11, AS 26.05 or AS 28.35; from juveniles 16 or older adjudicated for those acts; from registered sex offenders and child kidnappers; and from people arrested for a crime against a person or one of those felonies (AS 44.41.035(b)(6)). Arrestee material is destroyed on a court order showing release without charge, dismissal without refiling, or acquittal (AS 44.41.035(i)(2)).

Facial recognition

No statute regulating government or police facial recognition was found in the titles searched. SB 2 (34th Legislature), which would bar state agencies from using AI systems that involve biometric identification, “including facial recognition,” for consequential decisions, has had no action since an April 29, 2025 hearing in Senate State Affairs (SB 2).

Changes, 2023 to 2026

• Jul 1, 2026

  Sexual assault kits: shorter deadlines, a 120-day lab deadline, a statewide tracking system and victim notice

  HB 239 (34th Legislature), ch. 9 SLA 26, §§ 55, 78–83, 86; AS 44.41.065, 44.41.067, 12.61.010(a)(16)Became law without the Governor’s signature June 18, 2026; effective July 1, 2026 (§ 94)

  AS 44.41.065(a) is rewritten. A health care provider who collects a kit must tell the law enforcement agency within 14 days that it is ready to go to “an accredited laboratory in coordination with the Department of Public Safety or a laboratory operated by the Department of Public Safety.” The agency must send the kit within 20 days (was 30) and must try to notify the victim within 14 days after testing is complete. The laboratory must finish serological or DNA testing within 120 days of receipt; before, the agency had to ensure testing within six months. The clause barring dismissal or exclusion of evidence for a missed deadline now covers all of subsection (a). New (e) requires providers, agencies and labs to enter kit data into the tracking system. New AS 44.41.067 requires the Department of Public Safety to track each kit from collection to testing; victims can see their kit’s status and receive automated notices, and the system is confidential. New AS 12.61.010(a)(16) gives victims the right to be told the kit’s location and testing date. AS 44.41.070(a), the yearly agency inventory of untested kits, is repealed; the Department’s yearly report to the Legislature under (b) remains and may use tracking-system data. These are the provisions of the Governor’s HB 62, which itself did not pass.

  For practitioners: A missed 20-day or 120-day deadline is not a ground to exclude evidence or dismiss; ask for the tracking-system record to fix the kit’s chain of custody and testing dates.

  HB 239 enrolled HB 239 status HB 49 (2019), original AS 44.41.065

Pending bills

Checked and unchanged