On October 22, the House passed, by voice vote, the Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act (H.R. 2083).
The bill, sponsored by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), would require state education agencies (SEA) that receive federal funds to perform criminal background checks on school employees. The background checks would include: a search of the state criminal registries or repositories in the state where the employee lives and previously lived; a search of state-based child abuse and neglect registries and databases in the state where the employee lives and previously lived; Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint checks using the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System; and a search of the National Sex Offender Registry.
The bill would ban employment of individuals who refuse to consent to such background checks; make false statements in connection with the background checks; or have been convicted of rape, sexual assault, murder, child abuse or neglect, child pornography, kidnapping, spousal abuse, arson, or a violent sexual crime against a minor.
State and local education agencies (LEAs) would be required to inform law enforcement agencies whenever background checks indicate that a sexual predator has applied for employment. Local education agencies would be permitted to share results of recently conducted background checks with other LEAs considering the same individual for employment.
Employees would be able to challenge the accuracy or completeness of the information produced in the background check and could become eligible for employment upon showing that the information was inaccurate and has been corrected.
