SEATTLE — Eight years ago, Washington had a massive evidence backlog with more than 10,000 untested rape kits sitting on shelves.
Leah Griffin, a sexual assault survivor, was determined to make a difference.
"Everything was broken about the system back in 2014. Everything from the way that hospitals interacted with survivors, to the police, to the prosecutors, to the very definitions in the law," said Griffin.
She says she looked for lawmakers who cared and found State Representative Tina Orwall.
"We had a number of kits sitting on shelves for a number of reasons. One, maybe the lab didn't have the capacity to test. Maybe the investigator didn't choose to submit it," Orwall explained.
Orwall was part of team of lawmakers successful in passing new laws.
“The legislature actually passed a law recently that requires local law enforcement not to destroy the evidence and to maintain it for at least 20 years," said Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson.
Ferguson says that law created a cold storage problem for some smaller police departments. That's where his office stepped in, making over $177,000 in federal grant funding available.
"Literally from Aberdeen to Yakima and about 50 jurisdictions in between all across the state, they raised their hands and 'hey, we could use assistance.' and so we're providing those grant funds so they can get those storage units."
In addition to that, the state now has a tracking system where a survivor can go online and check the status of their sexual assault kit. Orwall says the backlog of untested kits should be completed by the end of the year.
"We're not done. There's a lot more work to do. But the change has been stunning, and the support of people like Bob Ferguson and Tina Orwall is the reason that this is happening," said Griffin.