Public Act 096-0632
 		





SB1677 Enrolled
LRB096 10732 KTG 20916 b






    AN ACT concerning State government.

 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
represented in the General Assembly:




 
    Section 2. The Department of Public Health Powers and 
Duties Law of the
Civil Administrative Code of Illinois is 
amended  by adding Section 2310-186 as follows:
 
    (20 ILCS 2310/2310-186  new)
    Sec. 2310-186. Criminal history record checks; task force. 
The Department of Public Health in collaboration with the 
Department of State Police shall create a task force to examine 
the process used by State and local governmental agencies to 
conduct criminal history record checks as a condition of 
employment or approval to render provider services to such an 
agency.
    The task force shall be comprised of representatives from 
State and local agencies that require an applicant to undergo a 
fingerprint-based criminal history record check pursuant to 
State or federal law or agencies that are contemplating such a 
requirement.  The task force shall include but need not be 
limited to representatives from the Department of State Police, 
the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority,  the 
Department of Children and Family Services, the Department of 
Central Management Services, the Department of Healthcare and 
Family Services, the Department of Financial and Professional 
Regulation, the Department of Public Health, the Department of 
Human Services, the Department of Labor, the Office of the 
Secretary of State, the Illinois State Board of Education 
(whose representative or representatives shall consult with 
the Regional Offices of Education and representatives of 2 
statewide teachers unions, a statewide organization 
representing school principals, a statewide school 
administrators organization, and school bus companies), the 
Live Scan fingerprinting industry, a union for child care 
workers who provide service to children, a large regional park 
district, and at least 2 statewide non-governmental, 
non-profit multi-issue advocacy organizations to represent the 
interests of prospective employees. The task force shall be 
chaired by 2 co-chairpersons, one appointed by the Director of 
Public Health and the other appointed by the Director of State 
Police. The task force members shall be appointed within 30 
days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 
96th General Assembly. The Department of Public Health and the 
Department of State Police shall jointly provide 
administrative and staff support to the task force as needed.
    The task force shall review and make recommendations to 
create a more centralized and coordinated process for 
conducting criminal history record checks in order to reduce 
duplication of effort and make better use of resources and more 
efficient use of taxpayer dollars.
    The task force shall provide a plan to revise the criminal 
history record check process to the General Assembly by January 
1, 2011. The plan shall address the following issues:
        (1) Identification of any areas of concern that have 
    been identified by stakeholders and task force members 
    regarding State or federally mandated criminal history 
    record checks.
        (2) Evaluation of the feasibility of using an 
    applicant's initial criminal history record information 
    results for subsequent employment or licensing screening 
    purposes while protecting the confidentiality of the 
    applicant.
        (3) Evaluation of the feasibility of centralizing the 
    screening of criminal history record information inquiry 
    responses.
        (4) Identification and evaluation of existing 
    technologies that could be utilized to eliminate the need 
    for a subsequent fingerprint inquiry each time an applicant 
    changes employment or seeks a license requiring a criminal 
    history record inquiry.
        (5) Identification of any areas where State or 
    federally mandated criminal history record checks can be 
    implemented in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. 
        (6) Evaluation of what other states and the federal 
    government are doing to address similar concerns.
        (7) Identification of programs serving vulnerable 
    populations that do not currently require criminal history 
    record information to determine whether those programs 
    should be included in a centralized screening of criminal 
    history record information.
        (8) Identification of any issues that agencies face in 
    interpreting criminal history records, such as 
    differentiating among types of dispositions, and 
    evaluation of how those records can be presented in a 
    format better tailored to non-law enforcement purposes. 
        (9) Ensuring that any centralized criminal history 
    records system discloses sealed criminal history records 
    only to those agencies authorized to receive those records 
    under Illinois law. 
        (10) Evaluation of the feasibility of creating a 
    process whereby agencies provide copies of the criminal 
    background check to applicants for the purpose of providing 
    applicants with the opportunity to assess the accuracy of 
    the records. 
        (11) Evaluation of the feasibility of adopting a 
    uniform procedure for obtaining disposition information 
    where an arrest or criminal charge is reported without 
    subsequent disposition. 
        (12) Preparation of a report for the General Assembly 
    proposing solutions that can be adopted to eliminate the 
    duplication of applicant fingerprint submissions and the 
    duplication of criminal records check response screening 
    efforts and to minimize the costs of conducting State and 
    FBI fingerprint-based inquiries in Illinois.

 
    Section 5. The Illinois Public Aid Code is amended  by 
changing Section 9A-11.5 as follows:
 



    (305 ILCS 5/9A-11.5)



    Sec. 9A-11.5. Investigate child care providers. 
    (a) Any child care provider receiving funds from the child 
care assistance program
under this Code who is not required to 
be licensed under the Child Care Act of
1969 shall, as a 
condition of eligibility to participate in the child care

assistance program under this Code, authorize in writing on a 
form prescribed
by the Department of Children and Family 
Services, periodic investigations of the
Central Register, as 
defined in the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act,
to 
ascertain if the child care provider has been determined to be 
a perpetrator
in an indicated report of child abuse or neglect. 
The Department of Children and Family Services shall conduct an 
investigation
of the Central Register at the request of the 
Department.  The Department shall
request the Department of 
Children and Family Services to conduct periodic

investigations of the Central Register.  
    (b) Any child care provider, other than a relative of the 
child, receiving funds from the child care assistance program 
under this Code who is not required to be licensed under the 
Child Care Act of 1969 shall, as a condition of eligibility to 
participate in the child care assistance program under this 
Code, authorize in writing a State and Federal Bureau of 
Investigation fingerprint-based criminal history record check 
to determine if the child care provider has ever been convicted 
of a crime with respect to which the conviction has not been 
overturned and the criminal records have not been sealed or 
expunged.  Upon this authorization, the Department shall 
request and receive information and assistance from any federal 
or State governmental agency as part of the authorized criminal 
history record check.  The Department of State Police shall 
provide information concerning any conviction that has not been 
overturned and with respect to which the criminal records have 
not been sealed or expunged, whether the conviction occurred 
before or on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act 
of the 96th General Assembly, of a child care provider upon the 
request of the Department when the request is made in the form 
and manner required by the Department of State Police. The 
Department of State Police shall charge a fee not to exceed the 
cost of processing the criminal history record check. The fee 
is to be deposited into the State Police Services Fund. Any 
information concerning convictions that have not been 
overturned and with respect to which the criminal records have 
not been sealed or expunged obtained by the Department is 
confidential and may not be transmitted (i) outside the 
Department except as required in this Section or (ii) to anyone 
within the Department except as needed for the purposes of 
determining participation in the child care assistance 
program. A copy of the criminal history record check obtained 
from the Department of State Police shall be provided to the 
unlicensed child care provider. 
    (c) The Department shall
by rule set standards for 
determining when to disqualify an unlicensed child care 
provider for payment because (i) there is an indicated finding 
against the provider based on the results of the Central 
Register search or (ii) there is a disqualifying criminal 
charge pending against the provider or the provider has a 
disqualifying criminal conviction that has not been overturned 
and with respect to which the criminal records have not been 
expunged or sealed based on the results of the 
fingerprint-based Department of State Police and Federal 
Bureau of Investigation criminal history record check. In 
determining whether to disqualify an unlicensed child care 
provider for payment under this subsection, the Department 
shall consider the nature and gravity of any offense or 
offenses; the time that has passed since the offense or 
offenses or the completion of the criminal sentence or both; 
and the relationship of the offense or offenses to the 
responsibilities of the child care provider determine when 
payment to an unlicensed child care provider may be
withheld if 
there is an indicated finding against the provider in the 
Central
Register. 

(Source: P.A. 92-825, eff. 8-21-02.)

 

    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 
becoming law.