IIB 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2083 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 28, 2013 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

AN ACT 

To require State educational agencies that receive funding 

under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

1965 to have in effect policies and procedures on background checks for school employees. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Students 

3 from Sexual and Violent Predators Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. BACKGROUND CHECKS. 

5 (a) BACKGROUND CHECKS.—Not later than 2 years 

6 after the date of enactment of this Act, each State edu7 cational agency that receives funds under the Elementary 

8 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 

9 et seq.) shall have in effect policies and procedures that— 

10 (1) require that a criminal background check be 

11 conducted for each school employee that includes— 

12 (A) a search of the State criminal registry 

13 or repository of the State in which the school 

14 employee resides; 

15 (B) a search of State-based child abuse 

16 and neglect registries and databases of the 

17 State in which the school employee resides; 

18 (C) a Federal Bureau of Investigation fin19 gerprint check using the Integrated Automated 

20 Fingerprint Identification System; and 

21 (D) a search of the National Sex Offender 

22 Registry established under section 19 of the 

23 Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 

24 2006 (42 U.S.C. 16919); 

25 (2) prohibit the employment of a school em26 ployee as a school employee if such employee— 


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1 (A) refuses to consent to a criminal back2 ground check under paragraph (1); 

3 (B) makes a false statement in connection 

4 with such criminal background check; 

5 (C) has been convicted of a felony con6 sisting of— 

7 (i) homicide; 

8 (ii) child abuse or neglect; 

9 (iii) a crime against children, includ10 ing child pornography; 

11 (iv) spousal abuse; 

12 (v) a crime involving rape or sexual 

13 assault; 

14 (vi) kidnapping; 

15 (vii) arson; or 

16 (viii) physical assault, battery, or a 

17 drug-related offense, committed on or after 

18 the date that is 5 years before the date of 

19 such employee’s criminal background check 

20 under paragraph (1); or 

21 (D) has been convicted of any other crime 

22 that is a violent or sexual crime against a 

23 minor; 

24 (3) require that each criminal background 

25 check conducted under paragraph (1) be periodically 


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1 repeated or updated in accordance with State law or 

2 the policies of local educational agencies served by 

3 the State educational agency; 

4 (4) upon request, provide each school employee 

5 who has had a criminal background check under 

6 paragraph (1) with a copy of the results of the 

7 criminal background check; 

8 (5) provide for a timely process by which a 

9 school employee may appeal, but which does not per10 mit the employee to be employed as a school em11 ployee during such appeal, the results of a criminal 

12 background check conducted under paragraph (1) 

13 which prohibit the employee from being employed as 

14 a school employee under paragraph (2) to— 

15 (A) challenge the accuracy or completeness 

16 of the information produced by such criminal 

17 background check; and 

18 (B) establish or reestablish eligibility to be 

19 hired or reinstated as a school employee by 

20 demonstrating that the information is materi21 ally inaccurate or incomplete, and has been cor22 rected; 

23 (6) ensure that such policies and procedures are 

24 published on the website of the State educational 


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1 agency and the website of each local educational 

2 agency served by the State educational agency; and 

3 (7) allow a local educational agency to share 

4 the results of a school employee’s criminal back5 ground check recently conducted under paragraph 

6 (1) with another local educational agency that is 

7 considering such school employee for employment as 

8 a school employee. 

9 (b) TRANSFER PROHIBITION.—A local educational 

10 agency or State educational agency that receives funds 

11 under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

12 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) may not knowingly transfer 

13 or facilitate the transfer of any school employee if the 

14 agency knows, or has substantive reason to believe, that 

15 such employee engaged in sexual misconduct with an ele16 mentary school or secondary school student. 

17 (c) FEES FOR BACKGROUND CHECKS.— 

18 (1) CHARGING OF FEES.—The Attorney Gen19 eral, State Attorney General, or other State law en20 forcement official may charge reasonable fees for 

21 conducting a criminal background check under sub22 section (a)(1). 

23 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDS.—A local edu24 cational agency or State educational agency may use 

25 administrative funds received under the Elementary 


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1 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

2 6301 et seq.) to pay any reasonable fees charged for 

3 conducting such criminal background check. 

4 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The terms ‘‘elementary 

6 school’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, ‘‘local educational agen7 cy’’, ‘‘State’’, and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have 

8 the meanings given the terms in section 9101 of the 

9 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

10 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

11 (2) SCHOOL EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘school em12 ployee’’ means— 

13 (A) an employee of, or a person seeking 

14 employment with, a local educational agency or 

15 State educational agency, and who, as a result 

16 of such employment, has (or will have) a job 

17 duty that results in unsupervised access to ele18 mentary school or secondary school students; or 

19 (B) any person, or an employee of any per20 son, who has a contract or agreement to provide 

21 services with an elementary school or secondary 

22 school, local educational agency, or State edu23 cational agency, and such person or employee, 

24 as a result of such contract or agreement, has 

25 a job duty that results in unsupervised access 


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1 to elementary school or secondary school stu2 dents. 

Passed the House of Representatives October 22, 

2013. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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