Georgia Governor Nathan Deal made the long-awaited rape kit bill official Tuesday morning at the state capitol.
Supporters hope the bill will help bring closure to thousands of victims, who are still waiting for their rape kits to be tested.
"There won't be anymore surprise news stories about 100 rape kits found on a shelf at certain hospitals," said Jennifer Bivins, of the Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault.
"These victims are being heard. These victims are important and these victims can receive justice because otherwise you've got victims who may think they weren't believed or that nobody cared about them."
The bill, which passed the House on the final day of the 2016 legislative session, received plenty of negative feedback throughout the process.
Senator Renee Unterman tried to kill the bill calling it "unnecessary." Untermann believed most of the backlog has been taken care of.
A 2015 11Alive investigation discovered there were hundreds of untested kits just sitting on shelves. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and other crime lab did not have the proper funding or staff to take care of the kits.
Now that the bill is signed into law, the kits will be tested in a timely manner. The bill will require law enforcement to take inventory and transmit all untested kits to the GBI for tests.
