2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 32A - Children's Code › Article 15 - Children's and Juvenile Facility Criminal Records Screening › Section 32A-15-3 - Criminal history records check; background checks.

A. State and national criminal history records checks shall be conducted on all operators, staff, employees and volunteers and prospective operators, staff, employees and volunteers of child care facilities, including every facility or program that has primary custody of children for twenty hours or more per week, and juvenile detention, correction or treatment facilities. State and national criminal history records checks shall also be conducted on all prospective foster or adoptive parents and other adult relatives and non-relatives residing in the prospective foster or adoptive parent's household. The objective of conducting the records checks is to protect the children involved and promote the children's safety and welfare while receiving service from the facilities and programs.
B. The early childhood education and care department shall have access to criminal history information on prospective and current operators, staff, employees and volunteers of child care facilities, including every facility or program under the department's authority that has primary custody of infants, toddlers and children for twenty hours or more per week.
C. The children, youth and families department shall have access to criminal history information on:
(1) prospective and current operators, staff, employees and volunteers of juvenile detention, correction or treatment facilities or a facility or program under the department's authority that has primary custody of children for twenty hours or more per week; and
(2) all prospective foster or adoptive parents or other adult relatives and non-relatives residing in a prospective foster or adoptive parent's household.
D. For purposes of investigating the suitability of persons enumerated in Subsections B and C of this section, the early childhood education and care department or the children, youth and families department, as applicable, shall have access to criminal history records information furnished by the department of public safety and the federal bureau of investigation, subject to any restrictions imposed by federal law. As directed by the applicable department, a person enumerated in Subsection A of this section shall submit a set of electronic fingerprints to the department of public safety. The department of public safety shall conduct a check of state criminal history records and forward the fingerprints to the federal bureau of investigation for a national criminal history records check to determine the existence and content of records of convictions and arrests in this state or other law enforcement jurisdictions and to generate a criminal history records check in accordance with rules of the department and regulations of the federal bureau of investigation. The department of public safety shall review the information returned from the criminal history records check and compile and disseminate a response to the appropriate department, which shall use the information to investigate and determine whether a person is qualified to provide care for a child or be a foster or adoptive parent.
E. Criminal history records obtained pursuant to the provisions of this section are confidential and are not a public record for purposes of the Inspection of Public Records Act [Chapter 14, Article 2 NMSA 1978] and shall not be used for any purpose other than determining suitability for licensure, employment, volunteer service, fostering or adoption. Criminal history records obtained pursuant to the provisions of this section and the information contained in those records shall not be released or disclosed to any other person or agency, except pursuant to a court order or with the written consent of the person who is the subject of the records.
F. A person who releases or discloses criminal history records or information contained in those records in violation of the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be sentenced pursuant to the provisions of Section 31-19-1 NMSA 1978.
History:
Laws 1985, ch. 103, § 3 and Laws 1985, ch. 140, § 3; 1978 Comp., § 24-18-3, recompiled as 1978 Comp., § 32-9-3; recompiled as 1978 Comp., § 32A-15-3 by Laws 1993, ch. 77, § 216; 1999, ch. 146, § 1; 2003, ch. 261, § 2; 2005, ch. 189, § 76; 2022, ch. 30, § 14.
ANNOTATIONS
The 2022 amendment,
effective July 1, 2022, authorized the early childhood education and care department to perform criminal history investigations for child care facility licensure and other purposes, and provided that the criminal history records obtained pursuant to this section are confidential and not a public record for purposes of the Inspection of Public Records Act; in Subsection A, after "shall be conducted on all operators, staff, employees", added "and volunteers", and after "prospective operators, staff, employees", added "and volunteers"; deleted former Subsections B and C, added new Subsections B through D, and redesignated former Subsections D and E as Subsections E and F, respectively; and in Subsection E, after "the provisions of this section", added "are confidential and are not a public record for purposes of the Inspection of Public Records Act and", and after "shall not be used for any purpose other than", deleted "conducting background checks", and added "determining suitability for licensure, employment, volunteer service, fostering or adoption".
The 2005 amendment,
effective June 17, 2005, provided in Subsection A that nationwide criminal history record checks shall be conducted on all prospective foster or adoptive parents and other adult relatives and non-relatives residing in the prospective foster or adoptive parent's household; and provided in Subsection B that the department shall fingerprint and conduct a background check of all adoptive parents and other adult relatives and non-relatives residing in the prospective foster or adoptive parent's household.
The 2003 amendment,
effective July 1, 2003, substituted "conducting the record checks is to protect" for "protecting" following "The objective of" near the beginning of the second sentence of Subsection A; rewrote Subsection B; and added Subsections C, D and E.
The 1999 amendment,
effective July 1, 1999, added "Background Checks" in the section heading, substituted "the" for "such" in Subsection A and added Subsection B.