Many Arizonans may soon have to submit their DNA to be stored in a database maintained by the Department of Public Safety, The Arizona Republic reports.
Republican state senator David Livingston has introduced legislation that would force any person required by law to submit fingerprints for purposes of identification, including anyone who applies for a license, certificate or a permit, to submit their DNA and pay a $250 processing fee as well.
Police officers, volunteers, pharmacists, foster parents, child daycare workers, real estate agents, and many others would have to submit DNA samples.
The proposal would also allow coroners or medical examiners to collect DNA samples from dead people. The bill comes weeks after police in Arizona used DNA to charge a male nurse with raping a severely disabled woman at the long-term care facility where he worked, a crime that came to light only after she gave birth.
The bill would require nursing-care facility employees to submit their DNA.
Many local workers' organizations oppose the bill, including the West Maricopa Association of Realtors and the Arizona Police Association.
"It isn't very often a bill at the state Legislature affects so many Arizonan's civil rights in such an onerous manner," Liz Recchia, director of government affairs for the West Maricopa Association of Realtors, said in an online statement.
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