Title: Expedient Workforce Screening Act of 2020
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Expedient Workforce Screening Act of 2020
This bill establishes a program within the Federal Bureau of Investigation to allow entities that carry out natural gas or petroleum chemical manufacturing or refining and certain related activities to request national criminal background checks for individuals seeking access to these entities.
The Department of Justice may charge user fees to fund this program.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6186 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6186

  To facilitate screening and criminal history background checks for 
     individuals seeking access to qualified chemical and refining 
            infrastructure entities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 10, 2020

Mr. Weber of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                     the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To facilitate screening and criminal history background checks for 
     individuals seeking access to qualified chemical and refining 
            infrastructure entities, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Expedient Workforce Screening Act of 
2020''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE; FINDINGS.

    (a) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to facilitate screening 
for individuals seeking access to qualified chemical and refining 
infrastructure entities in a manner that promotes public safety while 
protecting the interests of both individuals and qualified entities.
    (b) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Federal Criminal History Record Information (CHRI) is 
        an essential and widely accepted resource for background 
        screening.
            (2) The Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) existing 
        CHRI system, the Interstate Identification Index (III), 
        including the National Fingerprint File (NFF), is a partnership 
        between the States and the FBI. It is the primary means for 
        accessing and communicating CHRI for criminal justice and 
        certain critical noncriminal justice purposes.
            (3) The existing CHRI system is built on information 
        maintained by the States. CHRI available from the States 
        represents 95 percent of the CHRI available for background 
        check decisions.
            (4) Today, access to a national criminal history background 
        check through the FBI is dependent on a patchwork of legal 
        authorizations, resulting in ongoing requests for new Federal 
        or State authorizing legislation by private sector entities 
        that do not currently have a means of access.
            (5) An enhanced system for facilitating chemical and 
        refining infrastructure access to CHRI for venue access should 
        rely upon a user-fee-funded mechanism through which qualified 
        chemical and refining infrastructure entities nationwide can 
        obtain fingerprint-based positive identification and national 
        criminal history background checks from the FBI.
            (6) Qualified chemical and refining infrastructure entities 
        should be free to use either a national criminal history 
        background check through the FBI or a court-sourced history 
        record information through a check using name and other 
        identifiers, fingerprints, or a combination of both.
            (7) Any national system for qualified chemical and refining 
        infrastructure noncriminal justice background checks must 
        adhere to high standards for privacy and security, including 
        mechanisms for those seeking access to challenge accuracy and 
        completeness of the information reported about them.
            (8) The national criminal history background check system 
        should leverage the most recent technological advances to 
        obtain high speed responses, as well as enhance accuracy and 
        completeness.
            (9) The national criminal history background check system 
        does not alter the Department of Homeland Security's 
        responsibilities under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act 
        and the performance standards for high risk chemical 
        facilities.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL CRIMINAL HISTORY BACKGROUND CHECK PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment of the Program.--The Attorney General, acting 
through the Director of the FBI, shall establish and implement a 
program to be known as the ``National Criminal History Chemical and 
Refining Background Check Program'' (referred to in this Act as the 
``Program'') to permit qualified entities to request national criminal 
history background checks for the purpose of obtaining identification 
authentication and criminal history background check information of 
individuals seeking access to a qualified entity.
    (b) Request System.--The Program shall include a system through 
which a qualified entity may request a national criminal history 
background check directly through the FBI, which system shall be 
fingerprint-supported and maintain appropriate privacy protections.
    (c) Role of Qualified Educational Entities.--The Program shall 
include a process through which a qualified educational entity may 
assist in--
            (1) identification authentication of individuals seeking 
        access to a qualified entity and may obtain access to the 
        personally identifiable information of such individuals; and
            (2) setting criminal history record information standards 
        for access to qualified entities.
    (d) Response Time.--To the extent practicable, the FBI shall 
respond to a request received under the national criminal history 
background check program under this section not later than two business 
days after receipt of such request.
    (e) Fees.--The Attorney General may charge a fee for conducting a 
national criminal history background check under this section, except 
that the amount of such fee may not exceed the actual cost of the 
background check. For purposes of calculating the actual cost of the 
background check, the Attorney General shall include the cost of 
building, maintaining, and enhancing an appropriate Federal and State 
infrastructure for the national criminal history background check 
system, technology costs, staffing costs, and administrative costs 
based on the sum of both State-by-State and Federal costs, and shall 
review the amount of the fee no less frequently than every two years.

SEC. 4. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act may be construed to--
            (1) impose a requirement on a qualified entity, a consumer 
        reporting agency, or a State, to participate in the Program; 
        and
            (2) limit the authority under any other Federal or State 
        law for a qualified entity, a consumer reporting agency, or an 
        authorized agency to request or provide criminal history 
        background checks that are independent from the Program.

SEC. 5. REPORT.

    Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Attorney General shall submit to Congress a report on the 
Program, including any recommendations for improvements to the Program.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act, the following definitions apply:
            (1) Authorized agency.--The term ``authorized agency'' 
        means a division or office of a State designated by a State to 
        collect, maintain, and disseminate criminal history record 
        information under this Act.
            (2) Qualified entity.--The term ``qualified entity'' means 
        an entity that--
                    (A) provides natural gas or petroleum chemical 
                manufacturing or refining-related services, including 
                connecting terminals and pipelines, whether or not 
                regulated under the national critical infrastructure 
                under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards 
                Program under title XXI of the Homeland Security Act of 
                2002 (6 U.S.C. 621 et seq.), or the Maritime 
                Transportation Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-
                295; 116 Stat. 2064); and
                    (B) is approved by the FBI to request, directly or 
                through a consumer reporting agency, to obtain a 
                fingerprint-supported national criminal history 
                background check for chemical or refining 
                infrastructure access.
            (3) Qualified educational entity.--. The term ``qualified 
        educational entity'' means school or industrial safety training 
        facility that is--
                    (A) described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal 
                Revenue Code of 1986;
                    (B) American owned; and
                    (C) recognized by the Attorney General to provide 
                assistance to qualified entities under section 3.
            (4) Consumer reporting agency.--The term ``consumer 
        reporting agency'' has the meaning given that term under 
        section 603(1) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 
        168la(J)).
            (5) Criminal history record information.--The term 
        ``criminal history record information'' means information 
        collected by criminal justice agencies on individuals, 
        consisting of identifiable descriptions and notations of 
        arrests, detentions, indictments, infractions, or other 
        informal criminal charges, and any disposition arising 
        therefrom, including acquittal, sentencing, correctional 
        supervision, and release. The term does not include 
        identification information, such as fingerprints, if such 
        information does not indicate the individual's involvement with 
        the criminal justice system.
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