Date: 2010-12-07
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Today. the House considers S. 3998. the Criminal History Background Checks Pilot Extension Act of 2010. This bill was introduced by Senator SCHUMER of New York and recently passed the Senate by unanimous consent. I might just say parenthetically it makes me feel good that I finally found a bill sponsored by the gentleman from New York that I could support. This bill extends the child safety pilot program. which provides background checks for volunteer organizations that work with children. for an additional year. Originally created. as the gentleman from Virginia said. in 2003 under the PROTECT Act. the child safety pilot program has proven itself to be an effective resource for protecting our children. Through the pilot project. nonprofit organizations that provide youthbased care may request criminal history background checks from the FBI on applicants for volunteer or employee positions that involve working with children. A study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children provided data that underscores the importance of the pilot program. The National Center found that of almost 90.000 background checks performed through the pilot program. 6 percent of volunteer applicants were found to have a criminal history of concern. These included serious offenses such as sexual abuse of minors. assault. child cruelty. drug offenses and even murder. Further. over 42 percent of those with criminal histories had convictions in a State other than the State in which they then were applying to volunteer. If the volunteer group had performed a search only of the instate records. many relevant criminal convictions would not have been identified. One youthserving organization that received 1600 applications for volunteer positions found that over 50 percent of the applicants lied about having a criminal history. even though they knew it would be subjected to a background check. Of the applicants with criminal records. 23 percent had a different name reflected on their record than the one used to apply to volunteer. Without access to the national criminal database. many of these dangerous individuals may have slipped through the cracks. Mr. Speaker. volunteer and other childserving organizations across the country are working hard to provide safe learning and growing environments for our children. That means hiring professional and responsible employees. This bill will help and continues to help these groups to do just that. by extending the pilot program. The child safety pilot program is supported by the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. the YMCA. the Salvation Army. Big Brothers. Big Sisters of America. and Volunteers of America as well as many other important organizations. Many Members of this body are parents first and Members of Congress second. This legislation is critical to keeping our children safe from criminals. If just a single child does not become a victim of crime because of this program. then obviously it will have been successful. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.