Government: The US government’s expansion of DNA collection to include everyone arrested for violation of a federal law is expected to further burden federal labs. One million additional profiles are expected to be added as a result. In response, the FBI has allocated an extra $2 million to its budget. State labs have also been struggling to keep up with new laws. California, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota and South Dakota have spent millions in order to prepare for the increased sampling of felony suspects that will begin between July and January 2009 due to new laws taking effect. For example, Maryland’s expected addition of 31,000 profiles to its database has led the state to spend $1.7 million on new hires and start-up costs. North Dakota and South Dakota have built new labs, and California is undertaking a $10 million expansion of its forensic laboratory in order to accommodate an expected one million new profiles.

Source: USA Today