I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4022

To strengthen the Nation’s ability to protect its key assets and the life, 

health, and property of its populace by granting providers of private 

security services access to the criminal history records available through 

the National Crime Information Center in connection with their employees and prospective employees, requiring such providers to employ only 

those employees who pass criminal history records checks, to protect 

against unauthorized use of such records, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 24, 2004

Mr. ANDREWS (for himself and Mr. SAXTON) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, 

and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be 

subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 

of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL

To strengthen the Nation’s ability to protect its key assets 

and the life, health, and property of its populace by 

granting providers of private security services access to 

the criminal history records available through the National Crime Information Center in connection with their 

employees and prospective employees, requiring such providers to employ only those employees who pass criminal 

history records checks, to protect against unauthorized 

use of such records, and for other purposes.
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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 En5 hancement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) One of the legacies of the horrific attacks 

9 of September 11, 2001, is the greatly enhanced need 

10 for security of the homeland. Meeting this need has 

11 imposed serious stresses on government agencies at 

12 all levels and entities whose primary task is protec13 tion of the Nation’s key assets and the life, health, 

14 and property of its populace. 

15 (2) President Bush stated, in a February 2003 

16 report titled ‘‘The National Strategy for the Physical 

17 Protection of Critical Infrastructures and Key As18 sets’’ (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Report’’), 

19 that there is an increased need to assess the Na20 tion’s vulnerabilities and to provide additional secu21 rity for its key assets. Providing such security will 

22 require increased cooperation between Government 

23 and the private sector. 

24 (3) The Report also recognized that terrorists, 

25 in the pursuit of their long-term, strategic objectives, 
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1 will likely continue to attack critical infrastructures 

2 and key assets, the vast majority of which are owned 

3 and operated by the private sector. 

4 (4) Because of enhanced security needs, the use 

5 of private security companies in guarding the Na6 tion’s key assets and the life, health, and property 

7 of its populace has increased significantly since Sep8 tember 11, 2001, and will continue to do so. 

9 (5) Also because of the enhanced security 

10 needs, businesses generally have increased their se11 curity efforts and the number of internal employees 

12 dedicated to securing their facilities. 

13 (6) As reliance on private security companies to 

14 guard the Nation’s key assets and to protect the life, 

15 health, and property of its populace continues to 

16 grow, the hiring and placement decisions of these 

17 companies—which employ more than 500,000 pri18 vate security officers nationwide—have become crit19 ical, as they determine which individuals will protect 

20 the Nation and have access to its key assets. Simi21 larly, businesses providing their own internal secu22 rity services have experienced a heightened need to 

23 improve their internal security measures and to ob24 tain more information about the individuals who 

25 provide their internal security. It has, therefore, be-
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1 come imperative that companies employing or hiring 

2 security personnel have access to and be permitted 

3 to use a criminal background checking system that 

4 is efficient, inclusive, nationwide in scope, depend5 able, and technologically advanced, so as to minimize 

6 the occurrence of dangerous if not disastrous place7 ment and hiring decisions. 

8 (7) Companies cannot properly and effectively 

9 evaluate their prospective and current employees 

10 providing private security services without access to 

11 the criminal history records available through the 

12 National Crime Information Center (in this section 

13 referred to as ‘‘NCIC’’). Access to the NCIC for the 

14 purpose of reviewing the background of current and 

15 prospective employees is currently enjoyed by the 

16 banking industry, the nuclear power industry, public 

17 housing authorities, and others and should be made 

18 available to private security companies and to busi19 nesses providing their own security so that they can 

20 safely and effectively partner with Federal, State, 

21 and local governments in the effort to protect the 

22 homeland. 

23 (8) Given its critical role in the security of the 

24 homeland, the Department of Homeland Security, 

25 working in conjunction with the Department of Jus-
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1 tice, is best suited to act as the clearinghouse for ob2 taining and disseminating NCIC criminal history 

3 records for the purposes set forth in this section. 

4 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act, the following definitions shall apply: 

6 (1) COVERED EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘covered 

7 employee’’ means any individual, other than an ac8 tive law enforcement officer for any governmental 

9 unit, who is—

10 (A) employed by, or seeking employment 

11 with, a nongovernmental company that provides 

12 security guard services; or 

13 (B) employed as an internal security em14 ployee by, or seeking employment as an internal 

15 security employee with, a nongovernmental 

16 company that has more than 50 employees, of 

17 which 3 or more are internal security employ18 ees. 

19 (2) COVERED EMPLOYER.—The term ‘‘covered 

20 employer’’ means—

21 (A) any nongovernmental company that—

22 (i) provides security guard services; 

23 (ii) for each jurisdiction in which it 

24 provides such services, is licensed by such 

25 jurisdiction to provide such services, to the 
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1 extent such jurisdiction permits or requires 

2 it to be so licensed; and 

3 (iii) provides such services—

4 (I) in interstate or foreign com5 merce; 

6 (II) at any site where there is lo7 cated any element of the Federal Gov8 ernment; or 

9 (III) for any person engaged in 

10 interstate or foreign commerce; or 

11 (B) any nongovernmental company that—

12 (i) has more than 50 employees, of 

13 which 3 or more are internal security em14 ployees; 

15 (ii) for each jurisdiction in which it 

16 provides internal security services with re17 spect to itself, is licensed by such jurisdic18 tion to provide such services, to the extent 

19 such jurisdiction permits or requires it to 

20 be so licensed; and 

21 (iii) is either engaged in interstate or 

22 foreign commerce or provides any product 

23 or service to any element of the Federal 

24 Government. 
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1 (3) INTERNAL SECURITY EMPLOYEE.—The 

2 term ‘‘internal security employee’’ means an em3 ployee whose primary responsibility is to provide in4 ternal security with respect to the company employ5 ing such employee. 

6 (4) NCIC.—The term ‘‘NCIC’’ means the Na7 tional Crime Information Center of the Department 

8 of Justice. 

9 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

10 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

11 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes the 

12 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

13 Rico, and any other territory or possession of the 

14 United States. 

15 SEC. 4. AUTHORITY TO RECEIVE NCIC INFORMATION. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the other provisions of 

17 this section, the Secretary shall, upon receipt of a request 

18 by a covered employer with respect to a covered employee, 

19 provide for an NCIC criminal history records check with 

20 respect to that covered employee and provide the results 

21 of that check to that covered employer. 

22 (b) FINGERPRINTS.—A request under subsection (a) 

23 shall include the fingerprints of the covered employee, 

24 which shall be submitted electronically to the Secretary. 

25 The Secretary shall transmit those fingerprints to the At-
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1 torney General. To assist the Secretary in complying with 

2 subsection (a), the Attorney General shall, notwith3 standing any other provision of law, provide for—

4 (1) an NCIC criminal history records check to 

5 be carried out with respect to that covered employee; 

6 and 

7 (2) the results of that check to be transmitted 

8 to the Secretary. 

9 (c) FEE.—The Secretary may, by regulation, estab10 lish and collect a reasonable fee for responding to a re11 quest under subsection (a). 

12 SEC. 5. USE OF NCIC INFORMATION BY COVERED EMPLOY13 ERS. 

14 (a) PROHIBITION.—A covered employer may not em15 ploy a covered employee to provide any security service 

16 or function unless—

17 (1) the covered employer first obtains the re18 sults of an NCIC criminal history records check with 

19 respect to that covered employee; and 

20 (2) neither the results of that check, nor any 

21 other information made available to the covered em22 ployer, indicate that the covered employee has any 

23 unpardoned conviction under any Federal or State 

24 law of any felony or any one or more of the following 

25 offenses: 
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1 (A) Illegally using, carrying, or possessing 

2 any firearm or other dangerous weapon. 

3 (B) Making or possessing any burglar’s in4 strument. 

5 (C) Buying or receiving stolen property. 

6 (D) Unlawful entry of a building. 

7 (E) Aiding escape from prison. 

8 (F) Unlawfully possessing or distributing 

9 any illegal narcotic drug. 

10 (G) Picking a pocket or attempting to do 

11 so. 

12 (H) Recklessly endangering another per13 son. 

14 (I) Making any terroristic threat. 

15 (J) Assaulting another person. 

16 (b) LIMITATION.—Nothing in this section prevents a 

17 covered employer from making any use in its employment 

18 decisions of any such check or any other information, ex19 cept to the extent that section 7 or 8 of this Act prohibit 

20 such use. 

21 (c) DELAYED APPLICABILITY FOR CURRENT EM22 PLOYEES.—In the case of a covered employee who is, on 

23 the date of the enactment of this Act, employed by a cov24 ered employer to provide a security service or function, 

25 the prohibition in subsection (a) shall not apply until—
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1 (1) the date that is 6 months after the date of 

2 the enactment of this Act; or 

3 (2) a later date specified by the Secretary, for 

4 any case in which the Secretary certifies that the re5 sults of the records check could not be obtained 

6 within 6 months after the date of the enactment of 

7 this Act despite the exercise of reasonable diligence 

8 on the part of both the employee and the employer. 

9 SEC. 6. EMPLOYEE RIGHTS. 

10 (a) WRITTEN CONSENT.—A covered employer may 

11 not make a request under section 4(a) with respect to a 

12 covered employee, or obtain the fingerprints under section 

13 4(b) of a covered employee, without the written consent 

14 of that employee. 

15 (b) FREQUENCY OF REQUESTS.—A covered employer 

16 that makes a request under section 4(a) with respect to 

17 a covered employee and thereafter employs that employee 

18 for a continuous period may not make another such re19 quest with respect to such employee unless—

20 (1) such request is made at least 12 months 

21 after the previous request; or 

22 (2) good cause exists. 

23 (c) ACCURACY AND COMPLETENESS.—The Secretary 

24 shall provide each covered employee subject to a request 

25 under section 4(a) with the opportunity to provide to the 
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1 NCIC information concerning the accuracy or complete2 ness of the results of the check. 

3 SEC. 7. RECORDS MANAGEMENT. 

4 A covered employer receiving any information under 

5 section 4 shall ensure that such information is—

6 (1) maintained confidentially; 

7 (2) not misused or disseminated to any person 

8 not involved in the employment decision with respect 

9 to the covered employee; and 

10 (3) destroyed, upon deciding whether to employ 

11 or continue to employ the covered employee or upon 

12 the passage of 180 days after the receipt of such in13 formation, whichever occurs first. 

14 SEC. 8. USE OF INFORMATION BY DEPARTMENT OF HOME15 LAND SECURITY. 

16 In carrying out this Act, the Secretary shall establish 

17 procedures to ensure that the Department of Homeland 

18 Security uses the results of checks carried out under sec19 tion 4 in a manner that—

20 (1) limits the dissemination of such results out21 side the Department only to the covered employer; 

22 (2) ensures that such results are used only for 

23 the purpose of determining the suitability of a cov24 ered employee for employment in the private security 

25 field; and 
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1 (3) protects covered employees from misuse of 

2 such results. 

3 SEC. 9. REGULATIONS. 

4 The Secretary shall prescribe regulations to carry out 

5 this Act. 

6 SEC. 10. CRIMINAL PENALTIES. 

7 Any person who knowingly and intentionally uses any 

8 information obtained pursuant to this Act for a purpose 

9 other than the purpose of determining the suitability of 

10 a covered employee for employment in the private security 

11 field shall be imprisoned not more than 2 years or fined 

12 under title 18, United States Code, or both.

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