I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4073 

To amend the National Child Protection Act of 1993 to establish a permanent 

background check system. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 18, 2015 

Mr. SCHIFF (for himself, Mr. BISHOP of Michigan, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. 

COHEN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. DOLD, Mr. HONDA, Mr. ISRAEL, Ms. 

KUSTER, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. RANGEL, and 

Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the National Child Protection Act of 1993 to 

establish a permanent background check system. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Protection Im5 provements Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Next Generation Identification System 

9 of the Federal Bureau of Investigation maintains 


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1 fingerprints and criminal history records on more 

2 than 71,000,000 individuals. 

3 (2) Congress has worked with the States to 

4 make criminal history background checks available 

5 to organizations seeking to screen employees and 

6 volunteers who work with children, the elderly, and 

7 individuals with disabilities, through the National 

8 Child Protection Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 5119 et 

9 seq.), the Volunteers for Children Act (Public Law 

10 105–251; 112 Stat. 1885), the Serve America Act 

11 (Public Law 111–13; 123 Stat. 1460), the Adam 

12 Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 

13 (Public Law 109–248; 120 Stat. 587), and statutes 

14 enacted by 48 States in compliance with Public Law 

15 92–544. However, there may still be persons pro16 viding care and services to vulnerable populations 

17 who fall outside these numerous and broad cat18 egories of criminal history background checks au19 thorized by Federal and State law. 

20 SEC. 3. BACKGROUND CHECKS. 

21 The National Child Protection Act of 1993 (42 

22 U.S.C. 5119 et seq.) is amended— 

23 (1) by redesignating section 5 as section 6; and 

24 (2) by inserting after section 4 the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 5. PROGRAM FOR NATIONAL CRIMINAL HISTORY 

2 BACKGROUND CHECKS. 

3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

4 ‘‘(1) the term ‘background check designee’ 

5 means the entity designated by the Attorney General 

6 under subsection (b)(3) to carry out the duties de7 scribed in subsection (c); 

8 ‘‘(2) the term ‘covered entity’ means any busi9 ness or organization that provides, or licenses, cer10 tifies, or coordinates individuals or organizations to 

11 provide, care, care placement, supervision, treat12 ment, education, training, instruction, or recreation 

13 to vulnerable populations; 

14 ‘‘(3) the term ‘covered individual’ means an in15 dividual— 

16 ‘‘(A) who has, seeks to have, or may have 

17 unsupervised access to vulnerable populations 

18 served by a covered entity; or 

19 ‘‘(B) who— 

20 ‘‘(i) is employed by or volunteers with, 

21 or seeks to be employed by or volunteer 

22 with, a covered entity; or 

23 ‘‘(ii) owns or operates, or seeks to 

24 own or operate, a covered entity; 

25 ‘‘(4) the term ‘criminal history review designee’ 

26 means an entity designated by the Attorney General 


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1 under subsection (b)(3) to carry out the criminal 

2 history review program; 

3 ‘‘(5) the term ‘criminal history review program’ 

4 means the program established under subsection (d); 

5 ‘‘(6) the term ‘qualified State program’ means 

6 a program approved by a State authorized agency 

7 that provides access to national criminal history 

8 background checks, as authorized by Federal or 

9 State law; 

10 ‘‘(7) the term ‘State’ means a State of the 

11 United States, the District of Columbia, the Com12 monwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the 

13 Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the 

14 Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of 

15 Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, 

16 and the Republic of Palau; and 

17 ‘‘(8) the term ‘vulnerable populations’ shall in18 clude elderly persons, disabled persons, and children. 

19 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.— 

20 ‘‘(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this subsection 

21 is to facilitate widespread access to national criminal 

22 history background checks on covered individuals, in 

23 cases where a State has not established procedures 

24 for such access pursuant to Federal or State law. 


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1 ‘‘(2) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

2 the date of enactment of the Child Protection Im3 provements Act of 2015, the Attorney General shall 

4 establish— 

5 ‘‘(A) policies and procedures to carry out 

6 the duties described in subsection (c); and 

7 ‘‘(B) a national criminal history review 

8 program in accordance with subsection (d). 

9 ‘‘(3) DESIGNEES.—The Attorney General may 

10 designate 1 or more Federal Government agencies or 

11 enter into agreement with another entity or organi12 zation to carry out the duties described in sub13 sections (c) and (d). 

14 ‘‘(c) ACCESS TO STATE AND NATIONAL BACK15 GROUND CHECKS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) DUTIES.—The Attorney General or back17 ground check designee shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) inform covered entities and covered 

19 individuals located in a State without a quali20 fied State program about how to request State 

21 and national background checks; 

22 ‘‘(B) inform covered entities and covered 

23 individuals located in a State with a qualified 

24 State program about how to request national 


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1 background checks through the State author2 ized agency; 

3 ‘‘(C) complete a check of the national 

4 criminal history background check system; and 

5 ‘‘(D) provide information received in re6 sponse to such national criminal history back7 ground check to the criminal history review des8 ignee. 

9 ‘‘(2) REQUIRED INFORMATION.—A request for 

10 a national criminal history background check shall 

11 include— 

12 ‘‘(A) the fingerprints of the covered indi13 vidual; and 

14 ‘‘(B) the appropriate fee. 

15 ‘‘(3) FEES.—The Attorney General shall, in ad16 dition to the fee for the noncriminal justice national 

17 criminal history background check authorized under 

18 section 534 of title 28, United States Code— 

19 ‘‘(A) collect a fee to offset the costs of car20 rying out the duties described in subsection (d), 

21 in an amount equal to the cost of conducting 

22 the criminal history review; and 

23 ‘‘(B) remit such fee to the Federal Bureau 

24 of Investigation or the State, as appropriate. 

25 ‘‘(d) CRIMINAL HISTORY REVIEW PROGRAM.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this subsection 

2 is to provide covered entities with reliable and accu3 rate information regarding the fitness of the covered 

4 individuals to have responsibility for the safety and 

5 well-being of vulnerable populations in their care. 

6 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The Attorney General 

7 or criminal history review designee shall— 

8 ‘‘(A) establish procedures to securely re9 ceive criminal history records; 

10 ‘‘(B) make determinations regarding 

11 whether the criminal history records received in 

12 response to a national criminal history back13 ground check conducted under this section indi14 cate that the covered individual has a criminal 

15 history that may bear on the covered individ16 ual’s fitness to provide care to vulnerable popu17 lations; 

18 ‘‘(C) convey to the covered entity that sub19 mitted the request for a national criminal his20 tory background check— 

21 ‘‘(i) the fitness and suitability of the 

22 covered individual based solely on the cri23 teria described in paragraph (3); and 

24 ‘‘(ii) instructions and guidance that 

25 the covered entity should consult the Equal 


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1 Employment Opportunity Commission En2 forcement Guidance #915.002, dated April 

3 25, 2012, ‘Consideration of Arrest and 

4 Conviction Records in Employment Deci5 sions under Title VII of the Civil Rights 

6 Act of 1964’, or any successor thereto, 

7 issued by the United States Equal Employ8 ment Opportunity Commission. 

9 ‘‘(3) CRIMINAL HISTORY REVIEW CRITERIA.—In 

10 determining whether a criminal history record indi11 cates that a covered individual has a criminal history 

12 that may bear on the fitness of the covered indi13 vidual to provide care to vulnerable populations, the 

14 Attorney General or designee shall employ the cri15 teria used to evaluate individuals under other Fed16 eral laws, such as the Volunteers for Children Act 

17 (Public Law 105–251; 112 Stat. 1885), the Serve 

18 America Act (Public Law 111–13; 123 Stat. 1460), 

19 and the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety 

20 Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–248; 120 Stat. 587). 

21 ‘‘(4) APPLICATION PROCESSING.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

23 shall establish the process by which a covered 

24 entity or a covered individual in a State without 


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1 a qualified State program may obtain a na2 tional criminal history background check. 

3 ‘‘(B) CHALLENGE TO COMPLETENESS OF

4 RECORD.—A covered individual may challenge 

5 the completeness of any information in the 

6 criminal history record of the individual by con7 tacting the Federal Bureau of Investigations 

8 under the procedure set out in section 16.34 of 

9 title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 

10 successor thereto. 

11 ‘‘(5) PARTICIPATION IN PROGRAM.—The Attor12 ney General or designee shall determine whether an 

13 entity is a covered entity. 

14 ‘‘(6) PRIVACY OF INFORMATION.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any entity authorized 

16 to receive or transmit fingerprints or criminal 

17 history records under this section— 

18 ‘‘(i) shall use the fingerprints, crimi19 nal history records, or information in the 

20 criminal history records only for the pur21 poses specifically set forth in this section; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(ii) shall maintain adequate security 

24 measures to ensure the confidentiality of 

25 the fingerprints, the criminal history 


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1 records, and the information in the crimi2 nal history records. 

3 ‘‘(B) RETENTION OF FINGERPRINTS BY

4 THE FBI.—In accordance with State or Federal 

5 procedures, for the purpose of providing finger6 print verification, criminal investigation or sub7 sequent hit notification services, or for the re8 tention of criminal history, the Federal Bureau 

9 of Investigation may retain any fingerprints 

10 submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investiga11 tion under this section. 

12 ‘‘(7) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

13 this subsection shall be construed to change or re14 place any background check program authorized by 

15 Federal or State law on the day before the date of 

16 enactment of the Child Protection Improvements Act 

17 of 2015.’’. 

Æ 


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