§ 74D-2.1.  Criminal background checks.

(a) Authorization. - Upon receipt of an application for a license or registration, the Board shall conduct a background investigation to determine whether the applicant meets the requirements for a license or registration as set out in G.S. 74D-2(d). The State Bureau of Investigation may provide a criminal record check to the Board for a person who has applied for a new or renewal license or registration through the Board. The Board shall provide to the State Bureau of Investigation, along with the request, the fingerprints of a new applicant, and the State Bureau of Investigation shall provide a criminal record check based upon the applicant's fingerprints. The Board may request a criminal record check from the State Bureau of Investigation for a renewal applicant based upon the applicant's fingerprints in accordance with policy adopted by the Board. The Board shall provide any additional information required by the State Bureau of Investigation and a form signed by the applicant consenting to the check of the criminal record and to the use of the fingerprints and other identifying information required by the State or national repositories. The applicant's fingerprints shall be forwarded to the State Bureau of Investigation for a search of the State's criminal history record file, and the State Bureau of Investigation shall forward a set of the fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal history check. The State Bureau of Investigation may charge each applicant a fee to be collected by the Board and transmitted to the State Bureau of Investigation for conducting the checks of criminal history records authorized by this subsection.

The Board may require a new or renewal applicant to obtain a criminal record report from one or more reporting services designated by the Board to provide criminal record reports. Applicants are required to pay the designated reporting service for the cost of these reports.

(b) Confidentiality. - Except as necessary to support the denial of an application or a disciplinary matter in a contested case, the Board shall keep all information obtained pursuant to this section confidential in accordance with applicable State law and federal guidelines, and the information shall not be a public record under Chapter 132 of the General Statutes.  (2009-328, s. 16; 2014-100, s. 17.1(o); 2025-51, s. 1(a).)