The General Assembly once again considered a tremendous number of bills requiring fingerprint-based background checks for a wide range of professions and volunteer opportunities, from school mentors to nursing home employees to fire department volunteers. The Affiliate has long opposed the increasing use of fingerprint-based criminal background checks in lieu of other means, and these new bills are no exception. Under H 7444, for example, parents with distant drug histories or felony banking violations would be barred from serving as mentors at their children’s schools, even if they will never be left alone with a child, money, or any other responsibility. Some of this legislation passed, others did not. The largest of the bills, seeking to fingerprint nearly all employees of all long-term care facilities, died in committee for the second year in a row.
In addition, ACLU-drafted legislation, H 7878, sponsored by Rep. Edie Ajello sought to bring uniformity to all professional background checks. The statutes governing background checks vary widely from profession to profession, with some requiring full disclosure of criminal records, while others only search for certain disqualifying offenses. This legislation died in committee.
