ALBANY, N.Y., Jan 31 (Reuters) - The New York State Senate on Tuesday approved legislation that would require anyone convicted of a crime to submit a DNA sample to the state's criminal database.

New York currently collects DNA from those convicted of felonies and some violent misdemeanors, and permanently keeps the information on file. Under the proposal, anyone convicted of a felony or a penal law misdemeanor would be required to submit a DNA sample.

If passed, the bill, which was proposed earlier this month by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, would make New York's database the most expansive in the country.

"As a crime fighting tool, DNA is the 21st century equivalent of a fingerprint," Senate Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos said in a statement.

Cuomo's bill means that anyone convicted of a range of crimes, including harassment, criminal contempt, and endangering the welfare of a child would have to submit a sample to the database. Convicted graffiti artists, subway turnstile-jumpers and anybody who writes a bad check could also wind up with their genetic information permanently under file.

Cuomo's bill has garnered broad support from law enforcement, including district attorneys and police, who say the measure would help them convict criminals and exonerate the innocent.

"This critical crime fighting resource embraces technology to help protect the innocent and convict the guilty," Cuomo said in a statement Tuesday.

The bill will now to go to the Assembly.

STRICTER REGULATION

But some lawmakers, criminal defense attorneys and civil rights groups say they would only support a bill if it provides for stricter regulation of how DNA samples are taken and maintained. They also want defendants to have greater access to the database and to shut down "rogue databases" -- those operated by local law enforcement and not subject to state regulation.

"There is nothing in the law that allows someone who has been wrongfully convicted to access the DNA," Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, who has sponsored a comprehensive DNA proposal for years, said in an interview before the Senate passed the bill.

Lentol's proposal would give courts the authority to grant defendants access to the database; currently, prosecutors have that discretion. Michael Whyland, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, said the speaker agrees with Lentol.

"District attorneys should not be hiding evidence and judges should have the ability to order access to the database to prove innocence as well as guilt," Whyland said.

Sen. Stephen Saland, one of the sponsors of the bill that passed Tuesday, said concerns about integrity and access have been raised as "red herrings."

"The labs have to be certified, and nobody has maintained the existing database has been violated," Saland said. "In the absence of any meaningful opposition not based on speculation, a straight database (expansion) bill is where we should be."

On Monday Sean Byrne, the commissioner of the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, told a panel of lawmakers the database has received 10,000 "hits," or matches, since it was created in 1996. "Countless" suspects have been excluded from suspicion, he said, and 27 wrongfully-convicted people have been exonerated.

"No one knows how many exonerations go unrealized and how many violent crimes go unresolved by the current limitations," Byrne said.

(Reporting by Dan Wiessner)

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