Virginia SB 574: Child care; background checks for applicants for employment, etc.

Bill Text

2022SESSION
INTRODUCED
22102864D
1 SENATEBILLNO.574
2 OfferedJanuary12,2022
3 PrefiledJanuary12,2022
4 A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-289.035 of the Code of Virginia, relating to child care;
5 background checks.
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Patron––Mason
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8 ReferredtoCommitteeonEducationandHealth
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10 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
11 1. That §22.1-289.035 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
12 § 22.1-289.035. Licensed child day centers, family day homes, and family day systems;
13 employment for compensation or use as volunteers of persons convicted of or found to have
14 committed certain offenses prohibited; national background check required; penalty.
15 A. No child day center, family day home, or family day system licensed in accordance with the
16 provisions of this chapter, child day center exempt from licensure pursuant to § 22.1-289.031, registered
17 family day home, family day home approved by a family day system, or child day center, family day
18 home, or child day program that enters into a contract with the Department or its agents or designees to
19 provide child care services funded by the Child Care and Development Block Grant shall hire for
20 compensated employment, continue to employ, or permit to serve as a volunteer who will be alone with,
21 in control of, or supervising children any person who (i) has been convicted of any barrier crime as
22 defined in § 19.2-392.02 or (ii) is the subject of a founded complaint of child abuse or neglect within or
23 outside the Commonwealth. All applicants for employment, employees, applicants to serve as volunteers,
24 and volunteers shall undergo a background check in accordance with subsection B prior to employment
25 or beginning to serve as a volunteer and every five years thereafter. However, pending the results of all
26 background check components set forth in subsection B, an applicant for employment or an applicant to
27 serve as a volunteer may work in the child day center, family day home, or family day system, provided
28 that (i) the applicant has received qualifying results on a fingerprint-based background check through
29 the Central Criminal Records Exchange or the Federal Bureau of Investigation and (ii) the applicant is
30 supervised at all times by a person who received a qualifying result on a background check conducted
31 in accordance with subsection B within the past five years.
32 B. Any individual required to undergo a background check in accordance with subsection A shall:
33 1. Provide a sworn statement or affirmation disclosing whether he has ever been convicted of or is
34 the subject of pending charges for any offense within or outside the Commonwealth and whether he has
35 been the subject of a founded complaint of child abuse or neglect within or outside the Commonwealth;
36 2. Submit to fingerprinting and provide personal descriptive information described in subdivision B 2
37 of §19.2-392.02;
38 3. Authorize the child day center, family day home, or family day system described in subsection A
39 to obtain a copy of the results of a search of the central registry maintained pursuant to § 63.2-1515 for
40 any founded complaint of child abuse or neglect against him; and
41 4. Authorize the child day center, family day home, or family day system described in subsection A
42 to obtain a copy of the results of a criminal history record information check, a sex offender registry
43 check, and a search of the child abuse and neglect registry or equivalent registry from any state in
44 which the individual has resided in the preceding five years.
45 The applicant's fingerprints and personal descriptive information obtained pursuant to subdivision 2
46 shall be forwarded by the Department or its designee or, in the case of a child day program operated by
47 a local government, may be forwarded by the local law-enforcement agency through the Central
48 Criminal Records Exchange to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the purpose of obtaining national
49 criminal history record information regarding such applicant. Upon receipt of an applicant's record or
50 notification that no record exists, the Central Criminal Records Exchange shall forward the information
51 to the Department or its designee, and the Department or its designee shall report to the child day center
52 or family day home whether the applicant is eligible to have responsibility for the safety and well-being
53 of children. In cases in which the record forwarded to the Department or its designee is lacking
54 disposition data, the Department or its designee shall conduct research in whatever state and local
55 recordkeeping systems are available in order to obtain complete data before reporting to the child day
56 center, family day home, or family day system.
57 C. The child day center, family day home, or family day system described in subsection A shall
58 inform every individual required to under