HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania lawmakers enthused by the prospect that police could solve serious crimes and put perpetrators behind bars faster if the state requires DNA testing of certain suspects before they are convicted received conflicting reviews from people who testified Tuesday.

“This law could provide law enforcement and the judicial system with an incredibly powerful forensic arsenal to protect the innocent and punish the guilty,” Chief Deputy Attorney General Bruce Beemer, who oversees state criminal prosecutions, said at a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

But the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania said that, while a narrowly divided U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June cleared the way for pre-conviction DNA testing, stricter privacy provisions in Pennsylvania’s constitution may bar the practice.

“It turns a fundamental concept of our criminal justice system — ‘innocent until proven guilty’ — on its head,” said ACLU lobbyist Andy Hoover.

Even the Pennsylvania State Police gave the bill a cool reception.

Lt. Col. Scott Snyder, the agency’s deputy commissioner of staff, said the bill would require State Police to hire 30 additional employees at a cost of nearly $7 million a year and an additional laboratory facility, which would cost about $20 million to build.

The bill, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, would require DNA samples from suspects charged with any felony or misdemeanor, including simple assault and criminal trespass. More than half the states have adopted similar laws.

Current state law requires people convicted of serious felonies to submit to a DNA sample taken by a cheek swab.

The Pennsylvania Senate approved the bill by a lopsided margin in June. Tuesday’s hearing was the first step toward a House vote.

The expansion of state and national databases made possible by such laws allows police to link investigations that previously seemed unrelated, said David Freed, the Cumberland County district attorney and president of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association.