Colorado lawmakers are running a bipartisan bill to set expectations for reporting misconduct in the state’s crime laboratories, an effort that comes in the wake of revelations that a former forensic scientist allegedly mishandled thousands of DNA tests over her career.

“We are here because of due process and fairness — the idea that if a (Colorado Bureau of Investigations) employee sees data malfeasance going on, they have a duty to report and disclose, so that district attorneys can make a decision whether or not to act and whether it would impact their cases,” said Representative Matt Soper, a Delta Republican sponsoring the bill.

He is running the bill alongside Representative Yara Zokaie, a Fort Collins Democrat, Senator Lisa Frizell, a Castle Rock Republican and Senator Mike Weissman, an Aurora Democrat.

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Former CBI scientist Yvonne “Missy” Woods was charged with 102 felonies in January over allegations that she manipulated DNA test results during her career. Prosecutors worry that over 1,000 cases could have been affected by dubious evidence she processed.

“We never want to see something like this happen again,” Soper said. “We want to address some of the issues that have occurred here so that we have integrity back in our state lab.”

House Bill 25-1275 would require crime lab employees to report a wrongful action they witness to their supervisor within two weeks. That is defined in the bill as an act from an employee that is a “gross deviation from the standard operation procedures.” The supervisor would then need to investigate the claim.

The CBI director would need to tell district attorneys about the alleged wrong action in affected cases, and attorneys would need to notify defendants — and in some cases victims — if there was lab misconduct in their case.

“Right now, there are defendants serving time who have no idea that the evidence used to convict them was handled by a crime lab employee implicated in misconduct. There are victims who don’t know that the forensic evidence in their case may have been compromised,” Zokaie said.

The bill would also give defendants the ability to return to court if their conviction substantially relied on evidence subject to misconduct. The intent is that it would apply to cases affected by the Woods scandal.

“All Coloradans have an interest in determining whether Missy Woods’ misconduct caused wrongful convictions,” said Jud Lohnes, a staff attorney with the Korey Wise Innocence Project at the University of Colorado Law School. “The importance of forensic testing cannot be overstated. A single DNA result can affect an entire criminal case.”

Sponsors hope to fast-track the bill. It was introduced Wednesday and assigned to the House Judiciary Committee but has not been scheduled for a hearing date.