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SEARCH Mid-Year Meeting Federal Legislative Briefing

SEARCH Mid-Year Meeting Federal Legislative Briefing. Presented By: Robert R. Belair SEARCH General Counsel January 23, 2004 Las Vegas, Nevada. Criminal Justice Funding. The House Appropriations Committee passed the FY 2004 CJS Appropriations bill in December. Senate passage is pending

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SEARCH Mid-Year Meeting Federal Legislative Briefing

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  1. SEARCH Mid-Year MeetingFederal Legislative Briefing Presented By: Robert R. Belair SEARCH General Counsel January 23, 2004 Las Vegas, Nevada

  2. Criminal Justice Funding • The House Appropriations Committee passed the FY 2004 CJS Appropriations bill in December. Senate passage is pending • The bill includes the following: • SEARCH: $2 million • Byrne Grants: $159 million • Byrne Formula Grants: $500 million • COPS: $756 million • DNA Backlog: $100 million Robert R. Belair

  3. Criminal Justice Funding • BJS: $32.1 million • NIJ: $48 million • RISS: $30 million • LLEBG: $225 million • Missing Children: $36 million • NCHIP: $30 million • Drug Courts: $38.5 million • Weed and Seed: $58.54 million • Boys and Girls Clubs: $80 million Robert R. Belair

  4. Criminal Justice Funding • In November 2003, the Homeland Security appropriation for FY 2004 (P.L. 108-90) became law • The bill includes the following: • Office of Domestic Preparedness: $3.2 billion • ODP basic formula grants: $1.7 million • Terrorism prevention grants: $500 million Robert R. Belair

  5. Criminal Justice Funding Issues • High-threat area grants: $725 million • Firefighter Grants: $ 750 million • Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection: $839 million • National Communications System: $141 million Robert R. Belair

  6. Near Term Prospects for Criminal Justice Funding • Funding amounts for Justice Assistance are expected to stay level or erode • Pressure expected to increase on earmark funding • Pressure expected to increase greatly on OJP discretionary funding • Pressure for coordinated Justice and DHS funding expected to grow Robert R. Belair

  7. Background Check Legislation • H.R. 1/S.1, the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement Act, Dec. 8, 2003, P.L. 108-173, is the only bill containing background check provisions to become law since July 2003 • Requires long-term care facilities to pilot a program of fingerprint based checks for employees, including CHRI • No mention of fees • Authorizes $25 million per year to the states that may be used for backgrounding Robert R. Belair

  8. Pending Background Check Legislation • Numerous bills require background checks. Few address fingerprints or fees. • Two bills with background check provisions have passed one house: • H.R. 6: Requires background checks re: nuclear materials. Passed in the House on April 11th. Failed in Senate in December. • S. 165: Requires background checks for all cargo aircraft employees. No mention of fees or fingerprints. Passed in Senate on May 8th. No action in House. Robert R. Belair

  9. Pending Background Check Legislation • Bills that have been introduced require checks for: • H.R. 18: Providers of Medicare services • H.R. 208: Long-term care workers • H.R. 364: Providers of medical transportation services to the elderly • H.R. 439: Businesses that send employees into people’s houses • H.R. 833: Mortgage brokers • H.R. 891: Those with access to “sealed sources” of radioactive material Robert R. Belair

  10. Pending Background Check Legislation • H.R. 1401/H.R. 2880: Mentors for foster care children • H.R. 1407: Locksmiths who provide services at federal executive and judicial facilities • H.R. 1644: Employees transporting nuclear materials • H.R. 1855: Employees in home health agencies • H.R. 2144: Airport screening personnel • H.R. 2145: Camp employees • H.R. 2463: Department of Defense contractors • H.R. 2761: Employees at nuclear facilities Robert R. Belair

  11. Pending Background Check Legislation • S. 6/S. 131: Employees at sensitive nuclear facilities • S. 157: Individuals with access to dangerous chemicals • S. 165: Employees of air cargo companies • S. 208: Air cargo handlers • S. 236: Alien flight school applicants Robert R. Belair

  12. Pending Background Check Legislation • S. 333/S. 958: Nursing home employees • S. 342: Foster and adoptive parents • S. 769/S. 1743: Private security officers • S. 1043: All employees of nuclear facilities • S. 1807: Purchasers of firearms at gun shows Robert R. Belair

  13. Protect Act • April 30, 2003 Congress enacted the Protect Act • Includes 3 provisions impacting the National Child Protection Act • 18 month state NCPA pilot program (3 states) • 18 month federal NCPA pilot program (100,000 records) • DOJ background check feasibility study • Boys and Girls Clubs, National Mentoring Partnership and National Council of Youth Sports are eligible to participate in pilot • NCMEC does fitness checks for all federal checks in pilot program Robert R. Belair

  14. Protect Act • Attorney General has completed feasibility study • SEARCH provided assistance and comments on the draft report • Deadline for completion of pilot studies is Oct. 2004 • Some sentiment in Congress to reform NCPA in ’04 based on feasibility study and interim results of pilots Robert R. Belair

  15. Protect Act • Likelihood, however, is for comprehensive NCPA reform in ’05 or ’06 • May provide a template for all volunteer and many employee background checks Robert R. Belair

  16. Projected Demand for CHRI • Demand exceeds all previous levels • Over 10 million adults being backgrounded annually • Percentage of national and state repository CHRI requests that are non-criminal justice growing rapidly • Pre-9/11 demand was already growing • 1998 – 44% of employers did backgrounds • 2000 – 61% of employers did backgrounds Robert R. Belair

  17. Projected Demand for CHRI • Post-9/11 the demand accelerates • Today, estimated that over 70% of large employers do some backgrounds • BOMA survey: pre-9/11 60% of apartment managers backgrounded; post-9/11 67% • ChoicePoint reports 30% growth post-9/11 • Hirecheck reports 25% growth • Kroll reports 20% growth Robert R. Belair

  18. Projected Demand for CHRI • Post-9/11 the character and scope of screening changes • Rechecks of existing employees • More job categories covered • Time frame and geography of searches expands • Greater pre-checking • Vendor and contractor screening balloons Robert R. Belair

  19. Projected Demand for CHRI • Screening for employees, volunteers and tenants still the large majority of non-criminal justice checks. Other purposes growing • Fraud • Licensing • Due diligence • Gatekeeper security • Pre-nuptial and dating • Litigation Robert R. Belair

  20. Projected Demand for CHRI • Screening for employees, volunteers and tenants still the large majority of non-criminal justice checks. Other purposes growing • Immigration • Curiosity • Firearms purchases • Aviation security • Security clearances and military Robert R. Belair

  21. Projected Demand for CHRI • Information availability much enhanced • Criminal history repositories • Court records • Corrections • Private sector repositories Robert R. Belair

  22. Projected Demand for CHRI • Employee acceptance of backgrounding remains high • 53% of employees support more thorough backgrounding • 92% support using commercial vendor • 91% support obtaining convictions • 56% obtaining arrest only • 62% support obtaining driving records • 82% support using biometric IDs Robert R. Belair

  23. Projected Demand for CHRI • Factors promoting demand for screening appear enduring and persistent • Anti-terrorism/safety • Recidivism • Strength of negligent hiring doctrine • Erosion of employment at will doctrine • Economics of good hiring, renting decisions • Concerns about vulnerable populations • Growth of “no-risk”, “zero tolerance” culture Robert R. Belair

  24. Projected Demand for CHRI • NCPA reform • Trusted passenger programs • Private sector repositories • Reintegrating offenders • Online access and resources • Instant CHRI backgrounding – automated decisioning • Instant profiling and matrix Robert R. Belair

  25. Pending NICS/Brady Act Legislation • S. 1706/H.R. 3237, NICS Improvement Act of 2003: Introduced Oct. 2, 2003 • Findings are adverse • NICS rejected 632,000 individuals between 11/98 and 8/03 • 23 million state criminal records are not accessible to NICS • 15 million more state criminal records are incomplete Robert R. Belair

  26. Findings Are Adverse • States are the primary cause of NICS delays and problems • Failure to automate • Failure to update • Failure to format for NICS • Only 45% of CHRI in the III includes dispositions • 40 states do not automate or make available mental health records to NICS Robert R. Belair

  27. Findings Are Adverse • Of the 10 states submitting mental health data to NICS • 8 states have submitted less than 40 records per state • One state has submitted 1,600 records • Only one state has submitted all mental health records (50,000) • 8 states do not make domestic violence restraining orders available to NICS • 14 states do not make domestic violence misdemeanor conviction records available to NICS Robert R. Belair

  28. NICS Act Provisions • 3 years after enactment, states are eligible for a waiver of the 10% match under NCHIP if the state electronically provides 90% of information 30 years old or less relevant to eligibility to purchase a firearm • States shall also make available to the Attorney General all information regarding misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence • States shall also make available to the Attorney General all information regarding persons adjudicated as mentally defective Robert R. Belair

  29. NICS Act Provisions • $250 million a year is authorized for FY ’05 -FY ’07 for grants to the states consistent with NCHIP for: • Electronic reporting systems to NICS • NICS background checks • Capturing final dispositions • Supplying accurate and timely mental health information • Supplying accurate and timely domestic violence information Robert R. Belair

  30. NICS Act Provisions • Penalties • After 3 years, Attorney General may withhold up to 3% of Justice Assistance funding if state fails to provide less than 60% of the relevant NICS information • Attorney General may waive penalty if state is making a “reasonable effort” to comply Robert R. Belair

  31. NICS Act Provisions • Studies and reports • BJS shall evaluate NICS’ operations and provide annual report to Congress • BJS shall evaluate and report on state participation annually Robert R. Belair

  32. NICS Act Provisions • Grants to the courts • Attorney General shall make grants to each state for the court system to improve transmittal to NICS of disposition information, domestic violence orders and mental health adjudications Robert R. Belair

  33. Pending NICS/Brady Act Legislation • Other NICS/Brady Act legislation includes: • H.R. 221: Licensed gun dealers to notify NICS of any background check conducted on a prospective gun buyer in previous 30 days • H.R. 260: Registration of gun show promoters • H.R. 899: All gun owners and purchasers in the U.S. to be licensed • H.R. 936/S. 448/S. 22: Background checks for gun show purchases • H.R. 2038: Background checks for transfers of semi-automatic and automatic weapons Robert R. Belair

  34. Pending Biometrics Legislation • No legislation requiring or affecting the use of biometrics has been enacted during the 108th Congress • H.R. 115: Requires all airport security screeners to be issued biometric security badges • H.R. 1171: Authorizes AG to provide grants to law enforcement agencies to use iris scan technology • H.R. 2376: Requires a biometric card to be issued to seaport employees • S. 565: Authorizes grants to state and local governments to safeguard against counterfeiting of government documents; safeguards may include biometric identifiers Robert R. Belair

  35. Pending Cyber-Security Legislation • Only one bill has been introduced during the 108th Congress that specifically addresses cyber-security • S. 187: Requires the Chief Information Officer of each federal agency to: • Identify the vulnerability of the agency’s information technology • Establish performance goals for the agency to identify, train personnel and develop tools for protecting technology • Report annually to OMB on its progress • Undergo a review by the National Institute of Science and Technology Robert R. Belair

  36. Areas of Future Privacy Legislation Impacting Criminal Justice • Camera surveillance • RFID tags • GPS and tracking • Profiling and matrix • Biometrics Robert R. Belair

  37. Areas of Future Privacy Legislation Impacting Criminal Justice • Private sector CHRI databases • Access to court records • Display of CHRI on the Internet • Corrections database • Real-time access to CHRI • Reintegration of offenders Robert R. Belair

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