S.B. No. 198 Summary

• Eliminates the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution of rape (section 2907.02 violations) and related offenses including conspiracy, complicity, and attempt to commit rape.

• Creates no statute of limitations for civil actions brought by rape victims against perpetrators, allowing victims to sue at any time.

• Modifies DNA-based prosecution rules to allow prosecution within five years after DNA identification, even if the standard 25-year limitation has expired.

• Requires law enforcement agencies to forward sexual assault examination kit contents to crime laboratories for DNA analysis within specified timeframes and maintain biological evidence retention procedures.

• Applies these provisions to rape offenses committed on or after July 16, 2015, and retroactively to prior violations where prosecution was not previously barred.