care institutions and
facilities; fingerprinting
HB 2109 allows vulnerable adult
care employers licensed by the Department of Health Services (DHS) and contract
providers and home and community based service providers licensed by the
State Department of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) the option of performing a
pre-employment statewide background check on employees and volunteers.
Under certain conditions, this pre-employment background check may replace the need for employees or volunteers to obtain a fingerprint clearance card through the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to provide direct care.
The Health Committee adopted an amendment that eliminates the provision that a background check may transfer with an employee if that employee changes employers within two years of undergoing a background check.
Currently, sections 36-411 and 36-594.01 require employees and volunteers who work with vulnerable adult and the developmentally disabled to obtain a DPS fingerprint clearance card as condition of employment. Employees and volunteers must apply for a fingerprint clearance card within twenty days of beginning work. Once an application is made by an employee or volunteer, the person may continue to work until the fingerprint clearance card is issued.
If the fingerprint clearance card is denied, the person may appeal to the Board of Fingerprinting (Board) for a good cause exemption. A person that has been denied a fingerprint clearance card must receive interim approval from the Board to continue working.
Fingerprint clearance card applicants are screened for criminal offenses on the state level through the Arizona Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) and on the national level through the Fingerprint Identification Records System operated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Fingerprint clearance cardholders are routinely screened for state criminal offenses through AFIS.
According to DPS, since 1999 over 81,000 applications for fingerprint clearance cards have been processed with a denial rate of 3.7 percent. In 2000, the average processing time per application was 11 weeks. Fingerprint clearance cards are valid for three years and cost $44 for paid employees and $38 for volunteer workers. When a fingerprint clearance card expires, the person must submit another set of fingerprints and pay the initial card fees.
HB 2109 allows vulnerable adult care employers, contract providers and home and community based service providers the option to perform a statewide pre-employment background check on certain employees and volunteers. The employer may substitute a background check for a fingerprint clearance card only if the employee has been a resident of Arizona for at least three consecutive years. The background must be performed by a private investigator licensed by DPS pursuant to title 32, chapter 24.
HB 2109 prohibits an employer from hiring an employee or volunteer who through a statewide background check is found to have been convicted of, has an outstanding warrant or is awaiting trial for any of the precluded offenses currently used to screen applicants for a fingerprint clearance card.