Who it affects
- Department of Justice
- State and local criminal investigators
- State and local DNA testing programs
Passed the SenateCrimeScience
Carla Walker Act
S. 1890 · Senate bill · Introduced May 22, 2025
The Carla Walker Act would allow federal grants for state and local programs using DNA and family-tree searches to develop leads in stalled criminal investigations.
At a glance
Where it stands
Passed the Senate
How South Carolina voted
No recorded votes yet.
See each vote ↓Lobbying and money
No lobbying reported yet
Lobbyists report every three months, about 20 days after each quarter ends. We have January 2025 through September 2026 reports. Newer reports will be added once filed and published.
What it would do
- The bill would allow the Department of Justice to award grants for state and local pilot programs.
- These programs would use DNA analysis and family-tree searches to generate leads in stalled criminal investigations.
- Programs would compete for the grants.
- Grants could fund analysis of a sample’s full DNA when standard tests find no national DNA database match.
- Grants could also pay for equipment used in DNA analysis and family-tree searches.
- Other grants could fund searches for leads in criminal investigations or cases involving unidentified human remains.
Written with AI from the official summary by Congress's research office.
How South Carolina voted
No recorded roll-call vote on this bill yet.
Groups that lobbied on it and gave to SC's members
PAC, lobbyist campaign and qualifying employee money this election, shown separately and never added together. Lobbying reports name the bills a group worked on, not which side it took.
No lobbying reported yet. Lobbyists report every three months, about 20 days after each quarter ends. We have January 2025 through September 2026 reports. Newer reports will be added once filed and published.
Official record
Official title, sponsor and status
- Official title
- A bill to establish a grant program for certain State and local forensic activities, and for other purposes.
- Sponsor
- Sen. Cornyn, John (R-TX)
- Introduced
- May 22, 2025
- Cosponsors
- 3
- Committees
- Senate Judiciary Committee
- Latest action
- June 15, 2026 · Held at the desk.
Official summary from the Congressional Research Service
Carla Walker Act This bill authorizes the Department of Justice to award grants for pilot programs to support forensic genetic genealogical (FGG) DNA analysis at the state and local levels to generate leads in stalled criminal investigations. FGG DNA analysis means a DNA analysis of genetic samples to develop a forensic genetic genealogical profile that can be used for genealogical searching. Specifically, this bill authorizes competitive grants to support whole genome sequencing of genetic samples that fail to get a DNA match in the Combined DNA Index System using traditional DNA analysis methods. Additionally, the bill authorizes competitive grants to purchase equipment to conduct FGG DNA analysis and genealogical searching or to fund searches to generate investigative leads for criminal investigations or unidentified human remains.
Summary on Congress.gov ↗Everyone who lobbied on this bill (0 groups)
No lobbying report we have loaded names this bill. That doesn't mean no lobbying took place.
Lobbyists report every three months, about 20 days after each quarter ends. We have January 2025 through September 2026 reports. Newer reports will be added once filed and published. Reports for October through December 2026 are due January 20, 2027.