Union Calendar No. 218

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1237

[Report No. 103–393]

A BILL

To establish procedures for national criminal

background checks for child care providers

NOVEMBER 20, 1993

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
IB

Union Calendar No. 218

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1237

[Report No. 103–393]

To establish procedures for national criminal background checks for child

care providers.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 4, 1993

Mrs. SCHROEDER (for herself, Mr. EDWARDS of California, Mr. CRAMER, Mr.

KOPETSKI, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. SHAYS, and Mr. SMITH of Oregon) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the

Judiciary

NOVEMBER 20, 1993

Additional sponsors: Ms. PELOSI, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. YATES,

Mr. BARCIA of Michigan, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. SLAUGHTER,

Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. FROST, Mr. WHEAT, Mr. PARKER, Mr.

BEREUTER, Miss COLLINS of Michigan, Mrs. MEEK, Mr. LAZIO, Mr.

HYDE, Mr. COLEMAN, Mr. CLEMENT, Mr. WYNN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD,

Mr. NADLER, Mr. EVANS, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. NEAL of

Massachusetts, Mr. STARK, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. RUSH, Mr.

WAXMAN, Ms. LOWEY, Mr. MINGE, Mr. BROWN of California, Mr. ACKERMAN, and Mr. REED

NOVEMBER 20, 1993

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 4, 1993]
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A BILL

To establish procedures for national criminal background

checks for child care providers.

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 ‘‘National Child Protec5 tion Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. REPORTING CHILD ABUSE CRIME INFORMATION.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—In each State, an authorized crimi8 nal justice agency of the State shall report child abuse crime

9 information to, or index child abuse crime information in,

10 the national criminal history background check system.

11 (b) PROVISION OF STATE CHILD ABUSE CRIME

12 RECORDS THROUGH THE NATIONAL CRIMINAL HISTORY

13 BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM.—(1) Not later than 180

14 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney

15 General shall—

16 (A) investigate the criminal history records sys17 tem of each State and determine for each State a

18 timetable by which the State should be able to provide

19 child abuse crime records on an on-line basis through

20 the national criminal history background check sys21 tem;
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1 (B) in consultation with State officials, establish

2 guidelines for the reporting or indexing of child abuse

3 crime information, including guidelines relating to

4 the format, content, and accuracy of criminal history

5 records and other procedures for carrying out this

6 Act; and

7 (C) notify each State of the determinations made

8 pursuant to subparagraphs (A) and (B).

9 (2) The Attorney General shall require as a part of

10 each State timetable that the State—

11 (A) by not later than the date that is 3 years

12 after the date of enactment of this Act, have in a com13 puterized criminal history file at least 80 percent of

14 the final dispositions that have been rendered in all

15 identifiable child abuse crime cases in which there has

16 been an event of activity within the last 5 years;

17 (B) continue to maintain a reporting rate of at

18 least 80 percent for final dispositions in all identifi19 able child abuse crime cases in which there has been

20 an event of activity within the preceding 5 years; and

21 (C) take steps to achieve 100 percent disposition

22 reporting, including data quality audits and periodic

23 notices to criminal justice agencies identifying records

24 that lack final dispositions and requesting those dis25 positions.
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1 (c) LIAISON.—An authorized agency of a State shall

2 maintain close liaison with the National Center on Child

3 Abuse and Neglect, the National Center for Missing and Ex4 ploited Children, and the National Center for the Prosecu5 tion of Child Abuse for the exchange of technical assistance

6 in cases of child abuse.

7 (d) ANNUAL SUMMARY.—(1) The Attorney General

8 shall publish an annual statistical summary of the child

9 abuse crime information reported under this Act.

10 (2) The annual statistical summary described in para11 graph (1) shall not contain any information that may

12 reveal the identity of any particular victim or alleged

13 violator.

14 (e) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Attorney General shall

15 publish an annual summary of each State’s progress in re16 porting child abuse crime information to the national

17 criminal history background check system.

18 (f) STUDY OF CHILD ABUSE OFFENDERS.—(1) Not

19 later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act,

20 the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and De21 linquency Prevention shall begin a study based on a statis22 tically significant sample of convicted child abuse offenders

23 and other relevant information to determine—
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1 (A) the percentage of convicted child abuse of2 fenders who have more than 1 conviction for an of3 fense involving child abuse;

4 (B) the percentage of convicted child abuse of5 fenders who have been convicted of an offense involv6 ing child abuse in more than 1 State; and

7 (C) the extent to which and the manner in which

8 instances of child abuse form a basis for convictions

9 for crimes other than child abuse crimes.

10 (2) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment

11 of this Act, the Administrator shall submit a report to the

12 Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate

13 and the Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary of

14 the House of Representatives containing a description of

15 and a summary of the results of the study conducted pursu16 ant to paragraph (1).

17 SEC. 3. BACKGROUND CHECKS.

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—(1) A State may have in effect pro19 cedures (established by State statute or regulation) that re20 quire qualified entities designated by the State to contact

21 an authorized agency of the State to request a nationwide

22 background check for the purpose of determining whether

23 a provider has been convicted of a crime that bears upon

24 an individual’s fitness to have responsibility for the safety

25 and well-being of children.
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1 (2) The authorized agency shall access and review

2 State and Federal criminal history records through the na3 tional criminal history background check system and shall

4 make reasonable efforts to respond to the inquiry within

5 15 business days.

6 (b) GUIDELINES.—The procedures established under

7 subsection (a) shall require—

8 (1) that no qualified entity may request a back9 ground check of a provider under subsection (a) un10 less the provider first provides a set of fingerprints

11 and completes and signs a statement that—

12 (A) contains the name, address, and date of

13 birth of the provider;

14 (B) the provider has not been convicted of

15 a crime and, if the provider has been convicted

16 of a crime, contains a description of the crime

17 and the particulars of the conviction;

18 (C) notifies the provider that the entity may

19 request a background check under subsection (a);

20 (D) notifies the provider of the provider’s

21 rights under paragraph (2); and

22 (E) notifies the provider that prior to the

23 completion of the background check the qualified

24 entity may choose to deny the provider unsuper-
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1 vised access to a child to whom the qualified en2 tity provides child care;

3 (2) that each provider who is the subject of a

4 background check is entitled—

5 (A) to obtain a copy of any background

6 check report; and

7 (B) to challenge the accuracy and complete8 ness of any information contained in any such

9 report and obtain a prompt determination as to

10 the validity of such challenge before a final deter11 mination is made by the authorized agency;

12 (3) that an authorized agency, upon receipt of a

13 background check report lacking disposition data,

14 shall conduct research in whatever State and local

15 recordkeeping systems are available in order to obtain

16 complete data;

17 (4) that the authorized agency shall make a de18 termination whether the provider has been convicted

19 of a crime that bears upon an individual’s fitness to

20 have responsibility for the safety and well-being of

21 children and shall convey that determination to the

22 qualified entity; and

23 (5) that any background check under subsection

24 (a) and the results thereof shall be handled in accord25 ance with the requirements of Public Law 92–544.
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1 (c) REGULATIONS.—(1) The Attorney General may by

2 regulation prescribe such other measures as may be required

3 to carry out the purposes of this Act, including measures

4 relating to the security, confidentiality, accuracy, use, mis5 use, and dissemination of information, and audits and

6 recordkeeping.

7 (2) The Attorney General shall, to the maximum extent

8 possible, encourage the use of the best technology available

9 in conducting background checks.

10 (d) LIABILITY.—A qualified entity shall not be liable

11 in an action for damages solely for failure to conduct a

12 criminal background check on a provider, nor shall a State

13 or political subdivision thereof nor the officers or employees

14 thereof, be liable in an action for damages for failure to

15 comply with this Act.

16 (e) FEES.—In the case of a background check con17 ducted with fingerprints on a person who volunteers with

18 a qualified entity, the fees collected by authorized State

19 agencies and the Federal Bureau of Investigation may not

20 exceed the fees otherwise established and collected for name

21 checks.

22 SEC. 4. FUNDING FOR IMPROVEMENT OF CHILD ABUSE

23 CRIME INFORMATION.

24 (a) USE OF FORMULA GRANTS FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN

25 STATE RECORDS AND SYSTEMS.—Section 509(b) of the
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1 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42

2 U.S.C. 3759(b)) is amended—

3 (1) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the

4 semicolon;

5 (2) in paragraph (3) by striking the period and

6 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

7 (3) by adding at the end the following new para8 graph:

9 ‘‘(4) the improvement of State record systems

10 and the sharing of all of the records described in

11 paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) and the child abuse

12 crime records required under the National Child Pro13 tection Act of 1993 with the Attorney General for the

14 purpose of implementing the National Child Protec15 tion Act of 1993.’’.

16 (b) ADDITIONAL FUNDING GRANTS FOR THE IMPROVE17 MENT OF CHILD ABUSE CRIME INFORMATION.—(1) The At18 torney General shall, subject to appropriations and with

19 preference to States that, as of the date of enactment of this

20 Act, have in computerized criminal history files the lowest

21 percentages of charges and dispositions of identifiable child

22 abuse cases, make a grant to each State to be used—

23 (A) for the computerization of criminal history

24 files for the purposes of this Act;
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1 (B) for the improvement of existing computerized

2 criminal history files for the purposes of this Act;

3 (C) to improve accessibility to the national

4 criminal history background check system for the pur5 poses of this Act; and

6 (D) to assist the State in the transmittal of

7 criminal records to, or the indexing of criminal his8 tory record in, the national criminal history back9 ground check system for the purposes of this Act.

10 (2) There are authorized to be appropriated for grants

11 under paragraph (1) a total of $20,000,000 for fiscal years

12 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997.

13 (c) WITHHOLDING STATE FUNDS.—Effective 1 year

14 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General

15 may reduce, by up to 10 percent, the allocation to a State

16 for a fiscal year under title I of the Omnibus Crime Control

17 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 that is not in compliance with

18 the requirements of this Act.

19 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

20 For the purposes of this Act—

21 (1) the term ‘‘authorized agency’’ means a divi22 sion or office of a State designated by a State to re23 port, receive, or disseminate information under this

24 Act;
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1 (2) the term ‘‘child’’ means a person who is a

2 child for purposes of the criminal child abuse law of

3 a State;

4 (3) the term ‘‘child abuse crime’’ means a crime

5 committed under any law of a State that involves the

6 physical or mental injury, sexual abuse or exploi7 tation, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a

8 child by any person;

9 (4) the term ‘‘child abuse crime information’’

10 means the following facts concerning a person who

11 has been arrested for, is under indictment for, or has

12 been convicted of, a child abuse crime: full name,

13 race, sex, date of birth, height, weight, fingerprints, a

14 brief description of the child abuse crime or offenses

15 for which the person has been arrested or is under in16 dictment or has been convicted, the disposition of the

17 charge, and any other information that the Attorney

18 General determines may be useful in identifying per19 sons arrested for, under indictment for, or convicted

20 of, a child abuse crime;

21 (5) the term ‘‘child care’’ means the provision of

22 care, treatment, education, training, instruction, su23 pervision, or recreation to children by persons having

24 unsupervised access to a child;
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1 (6) the term ‘‘national criminal history back2 ground check system’’ means the criminal history

3 record system maintained by the Federal Bureau of

4 Investigation based on fingerprint identification or

5 any other method of positive identification;

6 (7) the term ‘‘provider’’ means

7 (A) a person who—

8 (i) is employed by or volunteers with a

9 qualified entity;

10 (ii) who owns or operates a qualified

11 entity; or

12 (iii) who has or may have unsuper13 vised access to a child to whom the qualified

14 entity provides child care; and

15 (B) a person who—

16 (i) seeks to be employed by or volunteer

17 with a qualified entity;

18 (ii) seeks to own or operate a qualified

19 entity; or

20 (iii) seeks to have or may have unsu21 pervised access to a child to whom the

22 qualified entity provides child care;

23 (8) the term ‘‘qualified entity’’ means a business

24 or organization, whether public, private, for-profit,

25 not-for-profit, or voluntary, that provides child care
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1 or child care placement services, including a business

2 or organization that licenses or certifies others to pro3 vide child care or child care placement services; and

4 (9) the term ‘‘State’’ means a State, the District

5 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,

6 American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the

7 Trust Territories of the Pacific.