A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to expedite criminal history checks of child care providers by allowing certified independent companies regulated by the federal fair credit reporting act to perform criminal history checks of child care providers.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 110‑90.2 reads as rewritten:
"§ 110‑90.2.  Mandatory child care providers' criminal history checks.
(a)	For purposes of this section:
(1)	"Child care", notwithstanding the definition in G.S. 110‑86, means any child care provided in child care facilities required to be licensed under this Article and nonlicensed child care homes approved to receive or receiving State or federal funds for providing child care.
(2)	"Child care provider" means a person who:
a.	Is employed by or seeks to be employed by a child care facility providing child care as defined in subdivision (1) of this subsection and has contact with the children;
b.	Owns or operates or seeks to own or operate a child care facility or nonlicensed child care home providing child care as defined in subdivision (1) of this subsection; or
c.	Is a member of the household in a family child care home or nonlicensed child care home and is over 15 years old and is present when children are in care. This subdivision shall apply only to new family child care homes and nonlicensed homes beginning March 1, 1998.
(3)	"Criminal history" means a county, state, or federal criminal history of conviction or pending indictment of a crime, whether a misdemeanor or a felony, that bears upon an individual's fitness to have responsibility for the safety and well‑being of children as set forth in G.S. 110‑91(8). Such crimes include the following North Carolina crimes contained in any of the following Articles of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes: Article 6, Homicide; Article 7A, Rape and Kindred Offenses; Article 8, Assaults; Article 10, Kidnapping and Abduction; Article 13, Malicious Injury or Damage by Use of Explosive or Incendiary Device or Material; Article 26, Offenses Against Public Morality and Decency; Article 27, Prostitution; Article 39, Protection of Minors; Article 40, Protection of the Family; and Article 59, Public Intoxication. Such crimes also include possession or sale of drugs in violation of the North Carolina Controlled Substances Act, Article 5 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes, and alcohol‑related offenses such as sale to underage persons in violation of G.S. 18B‑302 or driving while impaired in violation of G.S. 20‑138.1 through G.S. 20‑138.5. In addition to the North Carolina crimes listed in this subdivision, such crimes also include similar crimes under federal law or under the laws of other states.
(b)	Effective January 1, 1996, the Department shall ensure that the criminal history of all child care providers is checked and a determination is made of the child care provider's fitness to have responsibility for the safety and well‑being of children based on the criminal history. The Department shall ensure that child care providers who have lived in North Carolina continuously for the previous five years are checked for county and State criminal histories. The Department shall ensure that all other child care providers are checked for county, State, and national criminal histories. The Department may prohibit a child care provider from providing child care if the Department determines that the child care provider is unfit to have responsibility for the safety and well‑being of children based on the criminal history, in accordance with G.S. 110‑91(8).
(c)	The Department of Justice or a certified independent company regulated by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681, et. seq., shall provide to the Division of Child Development, Department of Health and Human Services, the criminal history from the State and National Repositories of Criminal Histories of any child care provider as requested by the Division.
The Division shall provide to the Department of Justice or the certified independent company regulated by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, along with the request, the fingerprints of the provider to be checked, any additional information required by the Department of Justice or certified independent company, and a form consenting to the check of the criminal record and to the use of fingerprints and other identifying information required by the repositories signed by the child care provider to be checked. The fingerprints of the provider shall be forwarded to the State Bureau of Investigation for a search of their criminal history record file and the State Bureau of Investigation shall forward a set of fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal history record check.
At the time of application the child care provider whose criminal history is to be checked shall be furnished with a statement substantially similar to the following:
"NOTICE

CHILD CARE PROVIDER
MANDATORY CRIMINAL HISTORY CHECK

NORTH CAROLINA LAW REQUIRES THAT A CRIMINAL HISTORY CHECK BE CONDUCTED ON ALL PERSONS WHO PROVIDE CHILD CARE IN A LICENSED CHILD CARE FACILITY, AND ALL PERSONS PROVIDING CHILD CARE IN NONLICENSED CHILD CARE HOMES THAT RECEIVE STATE OR FEDERAL FUNDS.
"Criminal history" includes county, state, and federal convictions or pending indictments of any of the following crimes: the following Articles of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes: Article 6, Homicide; Article 7A, Rape and Kindred Offenses; Article 8, Assaults; Article 10, Kidnapping and Abduction; Article 13, Malicious Injury or Damage by Use of Explosive or Incendiary Device or Material; Article 26, Offenses Against Public Morality and Decency; Article 27, Prostitution; Article 39, Protection of Minors; Article 40, Protection of the Family; and Article 59, Public Intoxication; violation of the North Carolina Controlled Substances Act, Article 5 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes, and alcohol‑related offenses such as sale to underage persons in violation of G.S. 18B‑302 or driving while impaired in violation of G.S. 20‑138.1 through G.S. 20‑138.5; or similar crimes under federal law or under the laws of other states. Your fingerprints will be used to check the criminal history records of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
If it is determined, based on your criminal history, that you are unfit to have responsibility for the safety and well‑being of children, you shall have the opportunity to complete, or challenge the accuracy of, the information contained in the SBI or FBI identification records.
If you disagree with the determination of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services on your fitness to provide child care, you may file a civil lawsuit within 60 days after receiving written notification of disqualification in the district court in the county where you live.
Any child care provider who intentionally falsifies any information required to be furnished to conduct the criminal history shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor."
Refusal to consent to a criminal history check is grounds for the Department to prohibit the child care provider from providing child care. Any child care provider who intentionally falsifies any information required to be furnished to conduct the criminal history shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.
(d)	The Department shall notify in writing the child care provider, and the child care provider's employer, if any, or for nonlicensed child care homes the local purchasing agency, of the determination by the Department whether the child care provider is qualified to provide child care based on the child care provider's criminal history. In accordance with the law regulating the dissemination of the contents of the criminal history file furnished by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department shall not release nor disclose any portion of the child care provider's criminal history to the child care provider or the child care provider's employer or local purchasing agency. The Department shall also notify the child care provider of the procedure for completing or challenging the accuracy of the criminal history and the child care provider's right to contest the Department's determination in court.
A child care provider who disagrees with the Department's decision may file a civil action in the district court of the county of residence of the child care provider within 60 days after receiving written notification of disqualification.
(e)	All the information that the Department receives through the checking of the criminal history is privileged information and is not a public record but is for the exclusive use of the Department and those persons authorized under this section to receive the information. The Department may destroy the information after it is used for the purposes authorized by this section after one calendar year.
(f)	There shall be no liability for negligence on the part of an employer of a child care provider, an owner or operator of a child care facility, a State or local agency, or the employees of a State or local agency, arising from any action taken or omission by any of them in carrying out the provisions of this section. The immunity established by this subsection shall not extend to gross negligence, wanton conduct, or intentional wrongdoing that would otherwise be actionable. The immunity established by this subsection is waived to the extent of indemnification by insurance, indemnification under Article 31A of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes, and to the extent sovereign immunity is waived under the Torts Claim Act, as set forth in Article 31 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes.
(g)	The child care provider shall pay the cost of the fingerprinting and the local check. The Department of Justice or the certified independent company regulated by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act shall perform the State criminal history check. If the Department determines that a child care provider who has lived continuously in the State less than five years is not disqualified based on the local and State criminal history record check, the Department shall request a criminal history check from the National Repository of Criminal History from the Department of Justice or the certified independent company. The Department of Health and Human Services shall pay the cost for the national criminal history record check."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.