Criminal Background Checks

When it comes to background checks, the State of Texas has been active.

In November 2013, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) published a report that showed deficiencies in the screening of licensed child care providers. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) administers the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), which provides financial assistance for child care each month. In accordance with federal regulations, States must certify that they have in effect, under State or local law, requirements designed to protect the health and safety of children receiving CCDF subsidies and to monitor these requirements.

As you may be aware, Congress was unable to reach an agreement on the spending bill, resulting in the government shutting down October 1, 2013 at midnight. As a result, some government services that employers rely on for their pre-employment screening and hiring processes will not be available. This may impact the timeliness and completeness of certain background screening components. It remains to be seen how long the shutdown will continue and what the wider impact will be, but the following are a few points to keep in mind.

One common misconception among medical staff services departments is the assumption that the state medical license boards proactively discipline physicians with a history of misconduct. After all, don’t most boards require criminal background checks before granting licensure? While this is certainly a valid point, various studies have recently indicated that medical license boards are not very efficient in taking action against physicians with misconduct.

This year, Texas Governor Rick Perry granted colleges and universities across Texas authorization to run background checks on students planning to live on campus. In March 2013, the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 146, which Governor Perry recently signed into law on June 14, 2013.

According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s website, a Criminal History Summary is a listing of certain information taken from fingerprint submission retained by the FBI in connection with arrests and, in some instances, federal employment, naturalization, or military service.

From time to time, we receive inquiries from students, applicants, and the subjects of background checks about the type of criminal history information that will likely appear on their background screening reports. We thought we'd take this opportunity to address this question with a broader audience.

Of the roughly 317 million people living in the United States today, about 12.4 million are arrested every year (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011). That’s equivalent to almost the entire population of the state of Pennsylvania.

California’s ongoing budget issues are becoming known to employers even outside of the Golden State as they seek to obtain criminal search results as part of a background check on current or former residents of that fair state.  Unfortunately, these issues are in no position to improve.   In fact, the criminal court experience will only be worsening, looking toward the rest of 2013 and potentially beyond.  According to the website for the California Judicial Branch, the courts “continue to face significant financial challenges

What’s all that ruckus you ask, well PreCheck’s been celebrating.