I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5556
To amend the National Child Protection Act of 1993, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 7, 2002
Mr. FOLEY (for himself, Mr. LAMPSON, Mr. CALVERT, and Mr. CRAMER) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
A BILL
To amend the National Child Protection Act of 1993, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Child Protec-
tion and Volunteers for Children Improvement Act of
2002’’.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
Section 5 of the National Child Protection Act of
1993 (42 U.S.C. 5119c) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (10), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the
end; and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (10) the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(10A) the term ‘qualified State program’
means the policies and procedures referred to in sec-
tion 3(a)(1) of a State that are in place in order to
implement this Act, including policies and proce-
dures that require—
‘‘(A) requests for national criminal history
background checks to be routinely returned to
a qualified entity not later than 20 business
days after the date on which the request was
made;
‘‘(B) authorized agencies to charge not
more than $18 for State background checks;
‘‘(C) the designation of the authorized
agencies that may receive national criminal his-
tory background check requests from qualified
entities; and
‘‘(D) the designation of the qualified enti-
ties that shall submit background check re-
quests to an authorized agency;
‘‘(10B) the term ‘routinely’ means—
‘‘(A) instances where 85 percent or more
of nationwide background check requests are
returned to qualified entities within 20 business
days; or
‘‘(B) instances where 90 percent or more
of nationwide background check requests are
returned to qualified entities within 30 business
days; and’’.
SEC. 3. STRENGTHENING AND ENFORCING THE NATIONAL
CHILD PROTECTION ACT AND THE VOLUN-
TEERS FOR CHILDREN ACT.
Section 3 of the National Child Protection Act of
1993 (42 U.S.C. 5119a) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) in paragraph (1)—
(i) by striking ‘‘A State may’’ and in-
serting the following: ‘‘REQUEST.—A State
may’’;
(ii) by inserting after ‘‘procedures’’
the following: ‘‘meeting the guidelines set
forth in subsection (b)’’;
(iii) by inserting after ‘‘regulation)’’
the following: ‘‘or a qualified State pro-
gram’’; and
(iv) by striking ‘‘convicted of’’ and all
that follows through the period and insert-
ing ‘‘convicted of, or is under pending ar-
rest or indictment for, a crime that renders
the provider unfit to provide care to chil-
dren, the elderly, or individuals with dis-
abilities.’’;
(B) in paragraph (2)—
(i) by striking ‘‘The authorized agen-
cy’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘RE-
SPONSE.—The authorized agency’’;
(ii) by striking ‘‘make reasonable ef-
forts to’’;
(iii) by striking ‘‘15’’ and inserting
‘‘20’’; and
(iv) by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: ‘‘The Attorney General shall re-
spond to the inquiry of the State author-
ized agency within 15 business days of the
request. A State is not in violation of this
section if the Attorney General fails to re-
spond to the inquiry within 15 business
days of the request.’’; and
(C) by striking paragraph (3), and insert-
ing the following:
‘‘(3) ABSENCE
OF
QUALIFIED
STATE
PRO-
GRAM.—
‘‘(A) 
REQUEST.—Not 
later 
than 
months after the date of enactment of the Na-
tional Child Protection and Volunteers for Chil-
dren Improvement Act of 2002, a qualified enti-
ty doing business in a State that does not have
a qualified State program may request a na-
tional criminal background check from the At-
torney General for the purpose of determining
whether a provider has been convicted of, or is
under pending arrest or indictment for, a crime
that renders the provider unfit to provide care
to children, the elderly, or individuals with dis-
abilities.
‘‘(B) REVIEW AND RESPONSE.—The Attor-
ney General shall respond to the request of a
qualified entity made under subparagraph (A)
not later than 20 business days after the re-
quest is made.’’; and
(2) in subsection (b)—
(A) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘shall
make’’ and inserting ‘‘may make’’; and
(B) in paragraph (5)—
(i) by inserting after ‘‘qualified enti-
ty’’ the following: ‘‘or by a State author-
ized agency that disseminates criminal his-
tory records information directly to quali-
fied entities’’; and
(ii) by striking ‘‘pursuant to sub-
section (a)(3)’’.
SEC. 4. DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.
The National Child Protection Act of 1993 (42
U.S.C. 5119 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end
the following:
‘‘SEC. 6. DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.
‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the At-
torney General and authorized agencies of States may dis-
seminate criminal history background check record infor-
mation to a qualified entity.
‘‘SEC. 7. OFFICE FOR VOLUNTEER AND PROVIDER SCREEN-
ING.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall es-
tablish an Office for Volunteer and Provider Screening
(referred to in this Act as the ‘Office’) which shall serve
as a point of contact for qualified entities to request a
national criminal background check pursuant to section
3(a)(3).
the National Child Protection Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C.
5119 et seq.).
(c) FUNDING ELIGIBILITY.—States with a qualified
State program shall be eligible for not more than
$2,000,000 under this section.
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section sums suffi-
cient to improve fingerprint technology units and
hire data entry improvement personnel in each of
the 50 States and the District of Columbia for each
of fiscal years 2004 through 2008.
(2) AVAILABILITY.—Sums appropriated in ac-
cordance with this section shall remain available
until expended.
SEC. 7. PRIVACY PROTECTIONS.
(a) INFORMATION.—Information derived as a result
of a national criminal fingerprint background check re-
quest under section 3 of the National Child Protection Act
of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 5119a) shall not be adjusted, deleted,
or altered in any way except as required by law for na-
tional security purposes.
(b) DESIGNATED REPRESENTATIVE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Each qualified entity (as de-
fined in section 5 of the National Child Protection
Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 5119c)) shall assign a rep-
resentative in their respective organization to receive
and process information requested under section 3 of
the National Child Protection Act of 1993 (42
U.S.C. 5119a).
(2) DELETION
OF
INFORMATION.—Each rep-
resentative assigned under paragraph (1) shall re-
view the requested information and delete all infor-
mation that is not needed by the requesting entity
in making an employment decision.
(c) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Any person who know-
ingly releases information derived as a result of a national
criminal fingerprint background check to any person other
than the hiring authority or organizational leadership with
the qualified entity shall be—
(1) fined $50,000 for each violation; or
(2) imprisoned not more than 1 year.
SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro-
priated to carry out this Act—
(1) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2004; and
(2) such sums as may be necessary for each of
fiscal years 2005 through 2008.
(b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Sums appropriated in
accordance with this section shall remain available until
expended.
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