II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1743

To permit reviews of criminal records of applicants for private security officer 

employment. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 16, 2003

Mr. LEVIN (for himself, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. MCCONNELL, 

and Mr. LIEBERMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 

and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To permit reviews of criminal records of applicants for 

private security officer employment.

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 ‘‘Private Security Offi5 cer Employment Authorization Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) employment of private security officers in 

9 the United States is growing rapidly; 
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1 (2) private security officers function as an ad2 junct to, but not a replacement for, public law en3 forcement by helping to reduce and prevent crime; 

4 (3) such private security officers protect indi5 viduals, property, and proprietary information, and 

6 provide protection to such diverse operations as 

7 banks, hospitals, research and development centers, 

8 manufacturing facilities, defense and aerospace con9 tractors, high technology businesses, nuclear power 

10 plants, chemical companies, oil and gas refineries, 

11 airports, communication facilities and operations, of12 fice complexes, schools, residential properties, apart13 ment complexes, gated communities, and others; 

14 (4) sworn law enforcement officers provide sig15 nificant services to the citizens of the United States 

16 in its public areas, and are supplemented by private 

17 security officers; 

18 (5) the threat of additional terrorist attacks re19 quires cooperation between public and private sec20 tors and demands professional, reliable, and respon21 sible security officers for the protection of people, fa22 cilities, and institutions; 

23 (6) the trend in the Nation toward growth in 

24 such security services has accelerated rapidly; 
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1 (7) such growth makes available more public 

2 sector law enforcement officers to combat serious 

3 and violent crimes, including terrorism; 

4 (8) the American public deserves the employ5 ment of qualified, well-trained private security per6 sonnel as an adjunct to sworn law enforcement offi7 cers; and 

8 (9) private security officers and applicants for 

9 private security officer positions should be thor10 oughly screened and trained. 

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In this Act: 

13 (1) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ includes 

14 both a current employee and an applicant for em15 ployment as a private security officer. 

16 (2) AUTHORIZED EMPLOYER.—The term ‘‘au17 thorized employer’’ means any person that—

18 (A) employs private security officers; and 

19 (B) is authorized by regulations promul20 gated by the Attorney General to request a 

21 criminal history record information search of an 

22 employee through a State identification bureau 

23 pursuant to this section. 

24 (3) PRIVATE SECURITY OFFICER.— The term 

25 ‘‘private security officer’’—
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1 (A) means an individual other than an em2 ployee of a Federal, State, or local government, 

3 whose primary duty is to perform security serv4 ices, full- or part-time, for consideration, wheth5 er armed or unarmed and in uniform or plain 

6 clothes (except for services excluded from cov7 erage under this Act if the Attorney General 

8 determines by regulation that such exclusion 

9 would serve the public interest); but 

10 (B) does not include—

11 (i) employees whose duties are pri12 marily internal audit or credit functions; 

13 (ii) employees of electronic security 

14 system companies acting as technicians or 

15 monitors; or 

16 (iii) employees whose duties primarily 

17 involve the secure movement of prisoners. 

18 (4) SECURITY SERVICES.—The term ‘‘security 

19 services’’ means acts to protect people or property as 

20 defined by regulations promulgated by the Attorney 

21 General. 

22 (5) STATE IDENTIFICATION BUREAU.—The 

23 term ‘‘State identification bureau’’ means the State 

24 entity designated by the Attorney General for the 
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1 submission and receipt of criminal history record in2 formation.

3 SEC. 4. CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD INFORMATION 

4 SEARCH. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—

6 (1) SUBMISSION OF FINGERPRINTS.—An au7 thorized employer may submit to the State identi8 fication bureau of a participating State, fingerprints 

9 or other means of positive identification, as deter10 mined by the Attorney General, of an employee of 

11 such employer for purposes of a criminal history 

12 record information search pursuant to this Act. 

13 (2) EMPLOYEE RIGHTS.—

14 (A) PERMISSION.—An authorized employer 

15 shall obtain written consent from an employee 

16 to submit to the State identification bureau of 

17 a participating State the request to search the 

18 criminal history record information of the em19 ployee under this Act. 

20 (B) ACCESS.—An authorized employer 

21 shall provide to the employee confidential access 

22 to any information relating to the employee re23 ceived by the authorized employer pursuant to 

24 this Act.
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1 (3) PROVIDING INFORMATION TO THE STATE

2 IDENTIFICATION BUREAU.—Upon receipt of a re3 quest for a criminal history record information 

4 search from an authorized employer pursuant to this 

5 Act, submitted through the State identification bu6 reau of a participating State, the Attorney General 

7 shall—

8 (A) search the appropriate records of the 

9 Criminal Justice Information Services Division 

10 of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and 

11 (B) promptly provide any resulting identi12 fication and criminal history record information 

13 to the submitting State identification bureau re14 questing the information. 

15 (4) USE OF INFORMATION.—

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—Upon receipt of the 

17 criminal history record information from the 

18 Attorney General by the State identification bu19 reau, the information shall be used only as pro20 vided in subparagraph (B). 

21 (B) TERMS.—In the case of—

22 (i) a participating State that has no 

23 State standards for qualification to be a 

24 private security officer, the State shall no-
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1 tify an authorized employer as to the fact 

2 of whether an employee has been—

3 (I) convicted of a felony, an of4 fense involving dishonesty or a false 

5 statement if the conviction occurred 

6 during the previous 10 years, or an 

7 offense involving the use or attempted 

8 use of physical force against the per9 son of another if the conviction oc10 curred during the previous 10 years; 

11 or 

12 (II) charged with a criminal fel13 ony for which there has been no reso14 lution during the preceding 365 days; 

15 or 

16 (ii) a participating State that has 

17 State standards for qualification to be a 

18 private security officer, the State shall use 

19 the information received pursuant to this 

20 Act in applying the State standards and 

21 shall only notify the employer of the re22 sults of the application of the State stand23 ards. 

24 (5) FREQUENCY OF REQUESTS.—An authorized 

25 employer may request a criminal history record in-
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1 formation search for an employee only once every 12 

2 months of continuous employment by that employee 

3 unless the authorized employer has good cause to 

4 submit additional requests. 

5 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 

6 the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General 

7 shall issue such final or interim final regulations as may 

8 be necessary to carry out this Act, including—

9 (1) measures relating to the security, confiden10 tiality, accuracy, use, submission, dissemination, de11 struction of information and audits, and record12 keeping; 

13 (2) standards for qualification as an authorized 

14 employer; and 

15 (3) the imposition of reasonable fees necessary 

16 for conducting the background checks. 

17 (c) CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR USE OF INFORMA18 TION.—Whoever knowingly and intentionally uses any in19 formation obtained pursuant to this Act other than for 

20 the purpose of determining the suitability of an individual 

21 for employment as a private security officer shall be fined 

22 under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned for not 

23 more than 2 years, or both. 

24 (d) USER FEES.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Federal 

2 Bureau of Investigation may—

3 (A) collect fees to process background 

4 checks provided for by this Act; and 

5 (B) establish such fees at a level to include 

6 an additional amount to defray expenses for the 

7 automation of fingerprint identification and 

8 criminal justice information services and associ9 ated costs. 

10 (2) LIMITATIONS.—Any fee collected under this 

11 subsection—

12 (A) shall, consistent with Public Law 101–

13 515 and Public Law 104–99, be credited to the 

14 appropriation to be used for salaries and other 

15 expenses incurred through providing the serv16 ices described in such Public Laws and in para17 graph (1); 

18 (B) shall be available for expenditure only 

19 to pay the costs of such activities and services; 

20 and 

21 (C) shall remain available until expended. 

22 (3) STATE COSTS.—Nothing in this Act shall be 

23 construed as restricting the right of a State to as24 sess a reasonable fee on an authorized employer for 

25 the costs to the State of administering this Act. 
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1 (e) STATE OPT OUT.—A State may decline to partici2 pate in the background check system authorized by this 

3 Act by enacting a law or issuing an order by the Governor 

4 (if consistent with State law) providing that the State is 

5 declining to participate pursuant to this subsection.

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