A bill by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino that would push law enforcement agencies to analyze rape kits in a timely manner must still clear two legislative hurdles before becoming law.Assembly Bill 558 received bipartisan support from the state Senate, which passed it 33 to 0.

"The reality of this is: This is a heinous crime," said Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge). "We have physical evidence; we need to process it."

The bill and its amendments must pass the Assembly a second time before returning to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk for his signature.

The governor vetoed the bill in October 2009, saying it would create additional costs in an already-widening state budget crisis.

"I strongly support efforts to ensure that rape kits are analyzed and processed in a timely manner in order to identify and prosecute sex offenders," Schwarzenegger said in his veto statement.

"However, requiring law enforcement agencies to provide backlog statistics to the [U.S. Department of Justice] would place significant cost burdens on these agencies and would divert scarce resources away from processing these kits."

The bill would require city and county law enforcement agencies to report the number of rape kits collected and tested annually to the Department of Justice. If the bill is signed into law, it would take effect Jan. 1.