II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1237

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 20 (legislative day, NOVEMBER 2), 1993

Received

AN ACT

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’’.
2

•HR 1237 RDS

1 SEC. 2. REPORTING CHILD ABUSE CRIME INFORMATION.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—In each State, an authorized

3 criminal justice agency of the State shall report child

4 abuse crime information to, or index child abuse crime in5 formation in, the national criminal history background

6 check system.

7 (b) PROVISION OF STATE CHILD ABUSE CRIME

8 RECORDS THROUGH THE NATIONAL CRIMINAL HISTORY

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

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

11 General shall, subject to availability of appropriations—

12 (A) investigate the criminal history records sys13 tem of each State and determine for each State a

14 timetable by which the State should be able to pro15 vide child abuse crime records on an on-line basis

16 through the national criminal history background

17 check system;

18 (B) in consultation with State officials, estab19 lish guidelines for the reporting or indexing of child

20 abuse crime information, including guidelines relat21 ing to the format, content, and accuracy of criminal

22 history records and other procedures for carrying

23 out this Act; and

24 (C) notify each State of the determinations

25 made pursuant to subparagraphs (A) and (B).
3

•HR 1237 RDS

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

2 each State timetable that the State—

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

4 after the date of enactment of this Act, have in a

5 computerized criminal history file at least 80 percent

6 of the final dispositions that have been rendered in

7 all identifiable child abuse crime cases in which

8 there has been an event of activity within the last

9 5 years;

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

11 least 80 percent for final dispositions in all identifi12 able child abuse crime cases in which there has been

13 an event of activity within the preceding 5 years;

14 and

15 (C) take steps to achieve 100 percent disposi16 tion reporting, including data quality audits and

17 periodic notices to criminal justice agencies identify18 ing records that lack final dispositions and request19 ing those dispositions.

20 (c) LIAISON.—An authorized agency of a State shall

21 maintain close liaison with the National Center on Child

22 Abuse and Neglect, the National Center for Missing and

23 Exploited Children, and the National Center for the Pros24 ecution of Child Abuse for the exchange of technical as25 sistance in cases of child abuse.
4

•HR 1237 RDS

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

2 shall publish an annual statistical summary of child abuse

3 crimes.

4 (2) The annual statistical summary described in

5 paragraph (1) shall not contain any information that may

6 reveal the identity of any particular victim or alleged viola7 tor.

8 (e) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Attorney General shall,

9 subject to the availability of appropriations, publish an an10 nual summary of each State’s progress in reporting child

11 abuse crime information to the national criminal history

12 background check system.

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

14 later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this

15 Act, the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice

16 and Delinquency Prevention shall begin a study based on

17 a statistically significant sample of convicted child abuse

18 offenders and other relevant information to determine—

19 (A) the percentage of convicted child abuse of20 fenders who have more than 1 conviction for an of21 fense involving child abuse;

22 (B) the percentage of convicted child abuse of23 fenders who have been convicted of an offense in24 volving child abuse in more than 1 State; and
5

•HR 1237 RDS

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

2 which instances of child abuse form a basis for con3 victions for crimes other than child abuse crimes.

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

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

6 Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate

7 and the Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary of

8 the House of Representatives containing a description of

9 and a summary of the results of the study conducted pur10 suant to paragraph (1).

11 SEC. 3. BACKGROUND CHECKS.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—(1) A State may have in effect

13 procedures (established by State statute or regulation)

14 that require qualified entities designated by the State to

15 contact an authorized agency of the State to request a

16 nationwide background check for the purpose of determin17 ing whether a provider has been convicted of a crime that

18 bears upon an individual’s fitness to have responsibility

19 for the safety and well-being of children.

20 (2) The authorized agency shall access and review

21 State and Federal criminal history records through the

22 national criminal history background check system and

23 shall make reasonable efforts to respond to the inquiry

24 within 15 business days.
6

•HR 1237 RDS

1 (b) GUIDELINES.—The procedures established under

2 subsection (a) shall require—

3 (1) that no qualified entity may request a back4 ground check of a provider under subsection (a) un5 less the provider first provides a set of fingerprints

6 and completes and signs a statement that—

7 (A) contains the name, address, and date

8 of birth appearing on a valid identification doc9 ument (as defined in section 1028 of title 18,

10 United States Code) of the provider;

11 (B) the provider has not been convicted of

12 a crime and, if the provider has been convicted

13 of a crime, contains a description of the crime

14 and the particulars of the conviction;

15 (C) notifies the provider that the entity

16 may request a background check under sub17 section (a);

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

19 rights under paragraph (2); and

20 (E) notifies the provider that prior to the

21 completion of the background check the quali22 fied entity may choose to deny the provider un23 supervised access to a child to whom the quali24 fied entity provides child care;
7

•HR 1237 RDS

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

2 background check is entitled—

3 (A) to obtain a copy of any background

4 check report; and

5 (B) to challenge the accuracy and com6 pleteness of any information contained in any

7 such report and obtain a prompt determination

8 as to the validity of such challenge before a

9 final determination is made by the authorized

10 agency;

11 (3) that an authorized agency, upon receipt of

12 a background check report lacking disposition data,

13 shall conduct research in whatever State and local

14 recordkeeping systems are available in order to ob15 tain complete data;

16 (4) that the authorized agency shall make a de17 termination whether the provider has been convicted

18 of, or is under pending indictment for, a crime that

19 bears upon an individual’s fitness to have respon20 sibility for the safety and well-being of children and

21 shall convey that determination to the qualified en22 tity; and

23 (5) that any background check under subsection

24 (a) and the results thereof shall be handled in ac-
8

•HR 1237 RDS

1 cordance with the requirements of Public Law 92–

2 544.

3 (c) REGULATIONS.—(1) The Attorney General may

4 by regulation prescribe such other measures as may be

5 required to carry out the purposes of this Act, including

6 measures relating to the security, confidentiality, accu7 racy, use, misuse, and dissemination of information, and

8 audits and recordkeeping.

9 (2) The Attorney General shall, to the maximum ex10 tent possible, encourage the use of the best technology

11 available in conducting background checks.

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

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

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

15 or political subdivision thereof nor any agency, officer or

16 employee thereof, be liable in an action for damages for

17 the failure of a qualified entity to take action adverse to

18 a provider who was the subject of a background check.

19 (e) FEES.—In the case of a background check pursu20 ant to a State requirement adopted after the date of the

21 enactment of this Act conducted with fingerprints on a

22 person who volunteers with a qualified entity, the fees col23 lected by authorized State agencies and the Federal Bu24 reau of Investigation may not exceed the actual cost of

25 the background check conducted with fingerprints. The
9

•HR 1237 RDS

1 States shall establish fee systems that insure that fees to

2 non-profit entities for background checks do not discour3 age volunteers from participating in child care programs.

4 SEC. 4. FUNDING FOR IMPROVEMENT OF CHILD ABUSE

5 CRIME INFORMATION.

6 (a) USE OF FORMULA GRANTS FOR IMPROVEMENTS

7 IN STATE RECORDS AND SYSTEMS.—Section 509(b) of

8 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968

9 (42 U.S.C. 3759(b)) is amended—

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

11 the semicolon;

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

13 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

14 (3) by adding at the end the following new

15 paragraph:

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

17 and the sharing of all of the records described in

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

19 crime records required under the National Child

20 Protection Act of 1993 with the Attorney General

21 for the purpose of implementing the National Child

22 Protection Act of 1993.’’.

23 (b) ADDITIONAL FUNDING GRANTS FOR THE IM24 PROVEMENT OF CHILD ABUSE CRIME INFORMATION.—

25 (1) The Attorney General shall, subject to appropriations
10

•HR 1237 RDS

1 and with preference to States that, as of the date of enact2 ment of this Act, have in computerized criminal history

3 files the lowest percentages of charges and dispositions of

4 identifiable child abuse cases, make a grant to each State

5 to be used—

6 (A) for the computerization of criminal history

7 files for the purposes of this Act;

8 (B) for the improvement of existing computer9 ized criminal history files for the purposes of this

10 Act;

11 (C) to improve accessibility to the national

12 criminal history background check system for the

13 purposes of this Act; and

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

15 criminal records to, or the indexing of criminal his16 tory record in, the national criminal history back17 ground check system for the purposes of this Act.

18 (2) There are authorized to be appropriated for

19 grants under paragraph (1) a total of $20,000,000 for fis20 cal years 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997.

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

22 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen23 eral may reduce, by up to 10 percent, the allocation to

24 a State for a fiscal year under title I of the Omnibus
11

•HR 1237 RDS

1 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 that is not

2 in compliance with the requirements of this Act.

3 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

4 For the purposes of this Act—

5 (1) the term ‘‘authorized agency’’ means a divi6 sion or office of a State designated by a State to re7 port, receive, or disseminate information under this

8 Act;

9 (2) the term ‘‘child’’ means a person who is a

10 child for purposes of the criminal child abuse law of

11 a State;

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

13 committed under any law of a State that involves

14 the physical or mental injury, sexual abuse or exploi15 tation, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a

16 child by any person;

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

18 means the following facts concerning a person who

19 has been arrested for, or has been convicted of, a

20 child abuse crime: full name, race, sex, date of birth,

21 height, weight, fingerprints, a brief description of

22 the child abuse crime or offenses for which the per23 son has been arrested or has been convicted, the dis24 position of the charge, and any other information

25 that the Attorney General determines may be useful
12

•HR 1237 RDS

1 in identifying persons arrested for, or convicted of,

2 a child abuse crime;

3 (5) the term ‘‘child care’’ means the provision

4 of care, treatment, education, training, instruction,

5 supervision, or recreation to children by persons hav6 ing unsupervised access to a child;

7 (6) the term ‘‘national criminal history back8 ground check system’’ means the criminal history

9 record system maintained by the Federal Bureau of

10 Investigation based on fingerprint identification or

11 any other method of positive identification;

12 (7) the term ‘‘provider’’ means

13 (A) a person who—

14 (i) is employed by or volunteers with

15 a qualified entity;

16 (ii) who owns or operates a qualified

17 entity; or

18 (iii) who has or may have unsuper19 vised access to a child to whom the quali20 fied entity provides child care; and

21 (B) a person who—

22 (i) seeks to be employed by or volun23 teer with a qualified entity;

24 (ii) seeks to own or operate a qualified

25 entity; or
13

•HR 1237 RDS

1 (iii) seeks to have or may have unsu2 pervised access to a child to whom the

3 qualified entity provides child care;

4 (8) the term ‘‘qualified entity’’ means a busi5 ness or organization, whether public, private, for6 profit, not-for-profit, or voluntary, that provides

7 child care or child care placement services, including

8 a business or organization that licenses or certifies

9 others to provide child care or child care placement

10 services; and

11 (9) the term ‘‘State’’ means a State, the Dis12 trict of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto

13 Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Guam,

14 and the Trust Territories of the Pacific.

Passed the House of Representatives November 20,

1993.

Attest: DONNALD K. ANDERSON,

Clerk.