II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1665

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

employment. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2003

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

and Mr. SCHUMER) 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; but 

7 (B) does not include—

8 (i) employees whose duties are pri9 marily internal audit or credit functions; 

10 (ii) employees of electronic security 

11 system companies acting as technicians or 

12 monitors; or 

13 (iii) employees whose duties primarily 

14 involve the secure movement of prisoners. 

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

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

17 defined by regulations promulgated by the Attorney 

18 General. 

19 (5) STATE IDENTIFICATION BUREAU.—The 

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

21 entity designated by the Attorney General for the 

22 submission and receipt of criminal history record in23 formation.
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1 SEC. 4. CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD INFORMATION 

2 SEARCH. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—

4 (1) SUBMISSION OF FINGERPRINTS.—An au5 thorized employer may submit to the State identi6 fication bureau of a participating State, fingerprints 

7 or other means of positive identification, as deter8 mined by the Attorney General, of an employee of 

9 such employer for purposes of a criminal history 

10 record information search pursuant to this Act. 

11 (2) EMPLOYEE RIGHTS.—

12 (A) PERMISSION.—An authorized employer 

13 shall obtain written consent from an employee 

14 to submit to the State identification bureau of 

15 a participating State the request to search the 

16 criminal history record information of the em17 ployee under this Act. 

18 (B) ACCESS.—An authorized employer 

19 shall provide to the employee confidential access 

20 to any information relating to the employee re21 ceived by the authorized employer pursuant to 

22 this Act. 

23 (3) PROVIDING INFORMATION TO THE STATE

24 IDENTIFICATION BUREAU.—Upon receipt of a re25 quest for a criminal history record information 

26 search from an authorized employer pursuant to this
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1 Act, submitted through the State identification bu2 reau of a participating State, the Attorney General 

3 shall—

4 (A) search the appropriate records of the 

5 Criminal Justice Information Services Division 

6 of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and 

7 (B) promptly provide any resulting identi8 fication and criminal history record information 

9 to the submitting State identification bureau re10 questing the information. 

11 (4) USE OF INFORMATION.—

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

13 criminal history record information from the 

14 Attorney General by the State identification bu15 reau, the information shall be used only as pro16 vided in subparagraph (B). 

17 (B) TERMS.—In the case of—

18 (i) a participating State that has no 

19 State standards for qualification to be a 

20 private security officer, the State shall no21 tify an authorized employer as to the fact 

22 of whether an employee has been convicted 

23 of a felony, an offense involving dishonesty 

24 or a false statement if the conviction oc25 curred during the previous 10 years, or an 
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1 offense involving the use or attempted use 

2 of physical force against the person of an3 other if the conviction occurred during the 

4 previous 10 years; or 

5 (ii) a participating State that has 

6 State standards for qualification to be a 

7 private security officer, the State shall use 

8 the information received pursuant to this 

9 Act in applying the State standards and 

10 shall only notify the employer of the re11 sults of the application of the State stand12 ards. 

13 (5) FREQUENCY OF REQUESTS.—An authorized 

14 employer may request a criminal history record in15 formation search for an employee only once every 12 

16 months of continuous employment by that employee 

17 unless the authorized employer has good cause to 

18 submit additional requests. 

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

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

21 shall issue such final or interim final regulations as may 

22 be necessary to carry out this Act, including—

23 (1) measures relating to the security, confiden24 tiality, accuracy, use, submission, dissemination, de-
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1 struction of information and audits, and record2 keeping; 

3 (2) standards for qualification as an authorized 

4 employer; and 

5 (3) the imposition of reasonable fees necessary 

6 for conducting the background checks. 

7 (c) CRIMINAL PENALTY.—Whoever falsely certifies 

8 that he meets the applicable standards for an authorized 

9 employer or who knowingly and intentionally uses any in10 formation obtained pursuant to this Act other than for 

11 the purpose of determining the suitability of an individual 

12 for employment as a private security officer shall be fined 

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

14 more than 2 years, or both. 

15 (d) USER FEES.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Federal 

17 Bureau of Investigation may—

18 (A) collect fees to process background 

19 checks provided for by this Act; and 

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

21 an additional amount to defray expenses for the 

22 automation of fingerprint identification and 

23 criminal justice information services and associ24 ated costs. 

25 (2) LIMITATIONS.—
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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Any fee collected under 

2 this subsection shall be subject to the provisions 

3 of section 605 of division B of Public Law 108–

4 7, with respect to the expenditure of fees. 

5 (B) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This paragraph 

6 shall take effect on the date that is 180 days 

7 after the date of issuance of regulations under 

8 subsection (b). 

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

10 construed as restricting the right of a State to as11 sess a reasonable fee on an authorized employer for 

12 the costs to the State of administering this Act. 

13 (e) STATE OPT OUT.—A State may decline to partici14 pate in the background check system authorized by this 

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

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

17 declining to participate pursuant to this subsection.

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