I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3902 

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

background check system. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 16, 2014 

Mr. SCHIFF (for himself and Mr. ROGERS of Michigan) 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 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Integrated Automated Fingerprint 

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1 vestigation maintains fingerprints and criminal his2 tory records on more 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 children who fall outside 

17 these numerous and broad categories of criminal his18 tory background checks authorized by Federal and 

19 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 children; 

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 the entity designated by the Attorney General 


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1 under subsection (b)(2) 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 of a State authorized agency that pro7 vides access to national criminal history background 

8 checks, as authorized by Federal or State law; 

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

10 United States, the District of Columbia, the Com11 monwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the 

12 Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the 

13 Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of 

14 Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, 

15 and the Republic of Palau; and 

16 ‘‘(8) the term ‘vulnerable populations’ shall in17 clude elderly persons, disabled persons, and children. 

18 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.— 

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

20 is to facilitate widespread access to State and na21 tional criminal history background checks, not other22 wise authorized by Federal or State law, on covered 

23 individuals. 

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

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1 provements Act of 2013, the Attorney General shall 

2 establish— 

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

4 the duties described in subsection (c); and 

5 ‘‘(B) a criminal history review program in 

6 accordance with subsection (d). 

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

8 designate one or more Federal Government agencies 

9 to carry out the duties described in subsection (c). 

10 ‘‘(c) ACCESS TO STATE AND NATIONAL BACK11 GROUND CHECKS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) DUTIES.—The Attorney General shall— 

13 ‘‘(A) inform covered entities and covered 

14 individuals about how to request State and na15 tional background checks— 

16 ‘‘(i) for covered entities and covered 

17 individuals located in a State with a quali18 fied State program, by referring the cov19 ered entity or covered individual to the 

20 State authorized agency; or 

21 ‘‘(ii) for covered entities and covered 

22 individuals located in a State without a 

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1 taining a State and national background 

2 check; 

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

4 criminal history background check system; and 

5 ‘‘(C) 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 State and national criminal history background 

11 check shall include— 

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

14 ‘‘(B) other documents required by State 

15 law for a State criminal history background 

16 check; and 

17 ‘‘(C) the appropriate fee. 

18 ‘‘(3) FEES.—The Attorney General shall, in ad19 dition to the fee for the noncriminal justice national 

20 criminal history background check authorized under 

21 section 534 of title 28, United States Code— 

22 ‘‘(A) collect a fee to offset the costs of car23 rying out the duties described in subsection (d), 

24 in an amount equal to the cost of conducting 

25 the criminal history review; and 


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

2 of Investigation. 

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

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

5 is to provide covered entities with reliable and accu6 rate information regarding the fitness of the covered 

7 individuals to have responsibility for the safety and 

8 well-being of vulnerable populations in their care. 

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

10 or designee shall— 

11 ‘‘(A) establish procedures to securely re12 ceive criminal history records; 

13 ‘‘(B) make determinations regarding 

14 whether the criminal history records received in 

15 response to a criminal history background check 

16 conducted under this section indicate that the 

17 covered individual has a criminal history that 

18 may bear on the covered individual’s fitness to 

19 provide care to vulnerable populations; 

20 ‘‘(C) convey to the covered entity that sub21 mitted the request for a State and national 

22 criminal history background check— 

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

24 covered individual based solely on the cri25 teria described in paragraph (3); and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) instructions and guidance that 

2 the covered entity should consult the Equal 

3 Employment Opportunity Commission En4 forcement Guidance #915.002, dated April 

5 25, 2012, ‘Consideration of Arrest and 

6 Conviction Records in Employment Deci7 sions under Title VII of the Civil Rights 

8 Act of 1964’, or any successor thereto, 

9 issued by the United States Equal Employ10 ment Opportunity Commission. 

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

12 determining whether a criminal history record indi13 cates that a covered individual has a criminal history 

14 that may bear on the fitness of the covered indi15 vidual to provide care to vulnerable populations, the 

16 Attorney General or designee shall employ the cri17 teria used to evaluate individuals under other Fed18 eral laws, such as the Volunteers for Children Act 

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

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

21 and the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety 

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

23 ‘‘(4) APPLICATION PROCESSING.— 

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

25 shall establish the process by which a covered 


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1 entity or a covered individual in a State without 

2 a qualified State program may obtain a State 

3 and national criminal history background check. 

4 ‘‘(B) CHALLENGE TO COMPLETENESS OF

5 RECORD.—A covered individual may challenge 

6 the completeness of any information in the 

7 criminal history record of the individual by con8 tacting the Federal Bureau of Investigation 

9 under the procedure set out in section 16.34 of 

10 title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 

11 successor thereto. 

12 ‘‘(5) PARTICIPATION IN PROGRAM.—The Attor13 ney General or designee shall determine whether an 

14 entity is a covered entity. 

15 ‘‘(6) PRIVACY OF INFORMATION.— 

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

17 to receive or transmit fingerprints or criminal 

18 history records under this section— 

19 ‘‘(i) shall use the fingerprints, crimi20 nal history records, or information in the 

21 criminal history records only for the pur22 poses specifically set forth in this section; 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(ii) shall maintain adequate security 

25 measures to ensure the confidentiality of 


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1 the fingerprints, the criminal history 

2 records, and the information in the crimi3 nal history records. 

4 ‘‘(B) RETENTION OF FINGERPRINTS BY

5 THE FBI.—In accordance with State or Federal 

6 procedures, for the purpose of providing finger7 print verification, criminal investigation or sub8 sequent hit notification services, or for the re9 tention of criminal history, the Federal Bureau 

10 of Investigation may retain any fingerprints 

11 submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investiga12 tion under this section. 

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

14 this subsection shall be construed to change or re15 place any background check program authorized by 

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

17 enactment of the Child Protection Improvements Act 

18 of 2013.’’. 

Æ 


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