HB6951 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB093 21197 DRJ 47281 b

93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2003 and 2004
HB6951

Introduced 2/9/2004, by John A. Fritchey

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act
20 ILCS 2605/2605-315	was 20 ILCS 2605/55a in part
210 ILCS 100/2.5 new
30 ILCS 805/8.28 new

Creates the Children's Camp Counselor Background Investigation Act and amends the Department of State Police Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois, the Youth Camp Act, and the State Mandates Act. Provides that the Department of Children and Family Services shall require every children's camp employee or volunteer who works with children to authorize an investigation to determine whether the employee or volunteer has ever been charged with a crime and, if so, the disposition of the charges. Requires the Department of State Police to provide information concerning criminal charges and their disposition. Provides for the confidentiality of such information, and provides that a violation of confidentiality is a Class A misdemeanor. Provides that a youth camp licensed under the Youth Camp Act must comply with the Children's Camp Counselor Background Investigation Act. Requires implementation without reimbursement under the State Mandates Act. Effective January 1, 2005.

CORRECTIONAL BUDGET AND IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning children.

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

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Children's Camp Counselor Background Investigation Act.

Section 5. Definitions. In this Act:

"Children's camp" means any program operated wholly or in part for recreational or instructional purposes and accommodating, for profit or under philanthropic or charitable auspices, 5 or more children under 18 years of age, apart from their parents, relatives, or legal guardians, whether operated as a day camp or a resident (overnight) camp and whether operated by an individual, a private organization, or a unit of local government or other public entity. The term includes any such program operated for any part of a day or for a longer period. The term includes a youth camp as defined in the Youth Camp Act.

"Children's camp counselor" means any person, whether an employee of the camp or a volunteer, who provides any services to children under 18 years of age at a children's camp in the course of performing his or her duties at the camp.

"Department" means the Department of Children and Family Services.

Section 10. Criminal background investigations.

(a) The Department shall require that every children's camp counselor, as a condition of serving in that capacity, authorize an investigation to determine whether he or she 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 that may be contacted. Upon receiving the authorization, the Director of Children and Family Services shall request and receive information and assistance from any federal, State, or local governmental agency as part of the authorized investigation.

(b) Every children's camp counselor or prospective children's camp counselor must submit his or her fingerprints to the Department of State Police in the form and manner prescribed by the Department of State Police. These fingerprints shall be checked against the fingerprint records now and hereafter filed in the Department of State Police criminal history records databases and, in the case of a children's camp counselor or prospective children's camp counselor 18 years of age or older, the Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history records databases. The Department of 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.

(c) The Department of State Police shall provide information concerning any criminal charges, and their disposition, now or hereafter filed, against a children's camp counselor or prospective children's camp counselor upon request of the Department of Children and Family Services when the request is made in the form and manner required by the Department of State Police.

(d) Information concerning convictions of a children's camp counselor or prospective children's camp counselor investigated under this Section, including the source of the information and any conclusions or recommendations derived from the information, shall be provided to the operator of the children's camp, and, upon request, to the children's camp counselor or prospective children's camp counselor. 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 in this Section, and may not be transmitted to anyone within the Department except as needed for the purpose of evaluating a children's camp counselor or prospective children's camp counselor. Only information and standards that bear a reasonable and rational relation to the performance of a children's camp counselor or prospective children's camp counselor shall be used by the Department or a children's camp. Any employee of the Department of Children and Family Services, the Department of State Police, or a children's camp receiving confidential information under this Section who gives or causes to be given any confidential information concerning any criminal convictions of a children's camp counselor or prospective children's camp counselor is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor unless the release of the information is authorized by this Section.

(e) A children's camp may, on a probationary basis, engage the services of any children's camp counselor or prospective children's camp counselor authorizing a criminal background investigation under this Section, pending the result of the investigation. Counselors must be notified prior to hiring or acceptance as a volunteer that such employment or use of volunteer services may be terminated on the basis of criminal background information obtained by the children's camp.

Section 90. The Department of State Police Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois is amended by changing Section 2605-315 as follows:

(20 ILCS 2605/2605-315) (was 20 ILCS 2605/55a in part)

Sec. 2605-315. Criminal history record information for Department of Children and Family Services. Upon the request of the Department of Children and Family Services, the Department of State Police shall provide properly designated employees of the Department of Children and Family Services with criminal history record information as defined in the Illinois Uniform Conviction Information Act and information maintained in the statewide central juvenile records system as defined in Section 2605-355 if the Department of Children and Family Services determines the information is necessary to perform its duties under the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act, the Child Care Act of 1969, the Children's Camp Counselor Background Investigation Act, and the Children and Family Services Act. The request shall be in the form and manner specified by the Department of State Police.

(Source: P.A. 90-18, eff. 7-1-97; 90-130, eff. 1-1-98; 90-372, eff. 7-1-98; 90-590, eff. 1-1-00; 90-655, eff. 7-30-98; 90-793, eff. 8-14-98; 91-239, eff. 1-1-00.)

Section 93. The Youth Camp Act is amended by adding Section 2.5 as follows:

(210 ILCS 100/2.5 new)

Sec. 2.5. Children's Camp Counselor Background Investigation Act. Every youth camp must comply with the Children's Camp Counselor Background Investigation Act.

Section 98. The State Mandates Act is amended by adding Section 8.28 as follows:

(30 ILCS 805/8.28 new)

Sec. 8.28. Exempt mandate. Notwithstanding Sections 6 and 8 of this Act, no reimbursement by the State is required for the implementation of any mandate created by this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January 1, 2005.