Report Title:
Criminal History Checks
Description:
Requires criminal history record checks for all applicants for licenses to operate adult residential homes, nursing homes, home health services, assisted living facilities, day care centers for elder disabled and aged persons, facilities providing care to dependent adults, and their employees who have access to the personal belongings of clients.
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
2163 |
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TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD CHECKS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Chapter 846, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part III to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§846- Departments of human services and health: criminal history record checks. (a) For the purposes of this section, "criminal history record check" means:
(1) An examination or search for evidence of an individual’s criminal history by means of:
(A) A search for the individual’s fingerprints in the national criminal history record files and, if found, an analysis of any other information available pertaining thereto; and
(B) A check of criminal history record information collected by the Hawaii criminal justice data center; provided that the Hawaii criminal justice data center may charge a reasonable fee for criminal history record checks performed; and
(2) The information under subsection (d).
(b) The department of health shall request a criminal history record check on any applicant to operate an adult residential care facility, nursing home, home health service, or assisted living facility, as well as all current and prospective employees of the applicant and all new employees of the applicant after registration or licensure, who provide care to residents or who have access to the personal belongings of residents.
(c) The department of human services shall request a criminal history record check on any applicant to operate a day care center for elder disabled and aged persons under part IV of chapter 346 or a facility providing care to dependent adults, as well as all current and prospective employees of the applicant and all new employees of the applicant after licensure, who provide care to clients and who have access to their clients’ personal belongings.
(d) The criminal history record check, at a minimum, shall require the applicant. current employee, or prospective employee to disclose whether:
(1) The individual subject to the criminal history record check under subsections (b) and (c) has been convicted in any jurisdiction of a crime indicating the individual may be unsuited for employment, if the individual provides care to residents or has access to the personal belongings of residents or clients in their own homes; provided that the period for which the applicant or employee’s conviction record is considered shall not exceed ten years; and
(2) The judgment of conviction has not been vacated.
The criminal history disclosure made by the applicant shall be verified by the department of health or the department of human services, as applicable, by means of information obtained pursuant to a criminal history record check.
For purposes of this subsection, "conviction" means an adjudication by a court of competent jurisdiction that the applicant or employee committed a crime, but not including final judgments required to be confidential under section 571-84(a).
(e) The applicant shall provide the department of human services or the department of health, as applicable, with personal identifying information including the applicant’s name, social security number, date of birth, sex, and permission to be fingerprinted. This information shall be used only for the purpose of conducting the criminal history record check authorized by this section.
(f) The applicant shall submit to the department of health or the department of human services, as applicable:
(1) A statement signed under penalty of perjury stating whether the applicant has ever been convicted in the previous ten years of a crime other than a minor traffic violation; and
(2) Written consent allowing the department of health or the department of human services, as applicable, to request and obtain criminal history record information.
(g) The department of health or the department of human services, as applicable, shall obtain background information for purposes of this section pursuant to a criminal history record check. The information obtained shall be used exclusively for the purposes this section and shall be subject to applicable federal laws and regulations.
(h) The department of human services and the department of health, as applicable, shall not deny the registration or licensure of a provider solely upon the basis of the criminal conviction of the provider’s prospective or current employee, if:
(1) The conviction is not sufficiently related to the financial or personal welfare or safety of the provider’s residents;
(2) The current or prospective employee can demonstrate rehabilitation; or
(3) The current or prospective employee’s conviction occurred more than ten years prior to the registration or licensure."
SECTION 2. Section 846-10, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§846-10 Dissemination. Criminal history record information may be disseminated to:
(1) The governor in individual cases or situations wherein the governor elects to become actively involved in the investigation of criminal activity or the administration of criminal justice in accordance with the governor's constitutional duty to insure that the laws be faithfully executed;
(2) The attorney general in connection with the attorney general's statutory authority and duties in the administration and enforcement of the criminal laws and for the purpose of administering and insuring compliance with the provisions of this chapter;
(3) [To such other individuals] Individuals and agencies who are provided for in this chapter or by rule or regulation[.]; and
(4) The department of health and the department of human services for purposes of section 846- ."
SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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