HB4501 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 35927 SPS 66014 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB4501

Introduced 1/31/2024, by Rep. Joyce Mason - Dave Vella

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

225 ILCS 10/4.1

from Ch. 23, par. 2214.1

Amends the Child Care Act of 1969. Provides that a criminal background investigation for a person subject to background check shall include specified information. Provides that, notwithstanding any federal law that prohibits conditional employment prior to completed background checks, an individual hired to begin employment who has authorized the required background check may be employed by a child care facility on a conditional basis pending the outcome of the required background check. Provides that the form authorizing the background check shall be submitted to the Department of Children and Family Services. Provides that the individual shall also submit to the Department an attestation, under penalty of perjury, disclosing: (1) any abuse or neglect complaints made against the individual with the child welfare agency of a state other than Illinois in which the individual resided within the 5 years preceding the date of the attestation; and (2) any contact the individual had with a law enforcement agency in connection with the individual's suspected or alleged commission of a crime in a state other than Illinois in which the individual resided within the 5 years preceding the date of the attestation. Provides that a conditional employee shall not be left alone with children outside the visual and auditory supervision of staff until the conditional employee has cleared all required background checks. Defines "persons subject to background check".

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning regulation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Child Care Act of 1969 is amended by changing Section 4.1 as follows:

(225 ILCS 10/4.1) (from Ch. 23, par. 2214.1)

Sec. 4.1. Criminal background investigations.

(a) As used in this Section, "person subject to background check" means:

(1) an operator of the child care facility;

(2) any current and conditional employee of the child care facility;

(3) any person who is used to replace or supplement staff;

(4) any person who has access to children as defined in 89 Ill. Adm. Code 385.20;

(5) any person, including a non-licensed service provider, who provides services that allow unsupervised access to children if the requirement for background checks is a condition of a contract or agreement or is required otherwise under a contract or agreement; and

(6) any volunteer who has unsupervised contact with children.

"Person subject to background check" does not include an employee of a child care facility that receives funds under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act.

(b) The Department shall require that each person subject to background check child care facility license applicant as part of the application process, and each employee and volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider, as a condition of employment, authorizes authorize an investigation to determine if such person subject to background check applicant, employee, or volunteer has ever been charged with a crime and if so, the disposition of those charges; this authorization shall indicate the scope of the inquiry and the agencies which may be contacted. Upon this authorization, the Director shall request and receive information and assistance from any federal, State or local governmental agency as part of the authorized investigation. Each person subject to background check applicant, employee, or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider shall submit the person subject to background check's applicant's, employee's, or volunteer's fingerprints to the Illinois State Police in the form and manner prescribed by the Illinois State Police. These fingerprints shall be checked against the fingerprint records now and hereafter filed in the Illinois State Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history records databases. The Illinois State Police shall charge a fee for conducting the criminal history records check, which shall be deposited in the State Police Services Fund and shall not exceed the actual cost of the records check. The Illinois State Police shall provide information concerning any criminal charges, and their disposition, now or hereafter filed, against a person subject to background check an applicant, employee, or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider upon request of the Department of Children and Family Services when the request is made in the form and manner required by the Illinois State Police.

(c) A criminal background investigation for a person subject to background check under subsection (b) shall include:

(1) a Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint check using Next Generation Identification;

(2) a search of the National Crime Information Center's National Sex Offender Registry; and

(3) a search of the following registries, repositories, or databases in this State and each state where the person subject to background check resided during the preceding 5 years:

(A) the criminal registry or repository, with the use of fingerprints being:

(i) required in this State;

(ii) optional in other states;

(B) the sex offender registry or repository; and

(C) the child abuse and neglect registry and database.

(d) Information concerning convictions of a person subject to background check license applicant, employee, or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider investigated under this Section, including the source of the information and any conclusions or recommendations derived from the information, shall be provided, upon request, to such person subject to background check applicant, employee, or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider prior to final action by the Department on the application. State conviction information provided by the Illinois State Police regarding persons subject to background check employees, prospective employees, or volunteers of non-licensed service providers and child care facilities licensed under this Act shall be provided to the operator of such facility, and, upon request, to the person subject to background check employee, prospective employee, or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider. Any information concerning criminal charges and the disposition of such charges obtained by the Department shall be confidential and may not be transmitted outside the Department, except as required herein, and may not be transmitted to anyone within the Department except as needed for the purpose of evaluating a person subject to background check an application or an employee or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider. Only information and standards which bear a reasonable and rational relation to the performance of a child care facility shall be used by the Department or any licensee. Any employee of the Department of Children and Family Services, Illinois State Police, or a child care facility receiving confidential information under this Section who gives or causes to be given any confidential information concerning any criminal convictions of a person subject to background check an applicant, employee, or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider, shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor unless release of such information is authorized by this Section.

(e) Notwithstanding any federal law that prohibits conditional employment prior to completed background checks, an individual hired to begin employment who has authorized the background check required by this Section may be employed by a child care facility on a conditional basis pending the outcome of the required background check. The form authorizing the background check shall be submitted to the Department. The individual shall also submit to the Department an attestation, under penalty of perjury, disclosing: (1) any abuse or neglect complaints made against the individual with the child welfare agency of a state other than Illinois in which the individual resided within the 5 years preceding the date of the attestation; and (2) any contact the individual had with a law enforcement agency in connection with the individual's suspected or alleged commission of a crime in a state other than Illinois in which the individual resided within the 5 years preceding the date of the attestation. A conditional employee shall not be left alone with children outside the visual and auditory supervision of staff until the conditional employee has cleared all required background checks. A child care facility may hire, on a probationary basis, any employee or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider authorizing a criminal background investigation under this Section, pending the result of such investigation. Employees and volunteers of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider shall be notified prior to hiring that such employment may be terminated on the basis of criminal background information obtained by the facility.

(Source: P.A. 102-538, eff. 8-20-21; 103-22, eff. 8-8-23.)