HB2894 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB097 08334 CEL 48461 b

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012
HB2894

Introduced 2/23/2011, by Rep. Jil Tracy

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

225 ILCS 10/4.1

from Ch. 23, par. 2214.1

Amends the Child Care Act of 1969. Provides that if an employee has authorized a criminal background investigation, but the investigation has not been completed, then the employee may work directly with the children if another employee who has completed a criminal background investigation is present at all times. Effective immediately.

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. The Department shall require that each child care facility license applicant as part of the application process, and each employee of a child care facility as a condition of employment, authorize an investigation to determine if such applicant or employee 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 applicant shall 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 and 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. The Department of State Police shall provide information concerning any criminal charges, and their disposition, now or hereafter filed, against an applicant or child care facility employee 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.

Information concerning convictions of a license applicant 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 applicant prior to final action by the Department on the application. State conviction information provided by the Department of State Police regarding employees or prospective employees of child care facilities licensed under this Act shall be provided to the operator of such facility, and, upon request, to the employee or prospective employee. 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 an application or a child care facility employee. 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, Department of 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 child care facility applicant, or child care facility employee, shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor unless release of such information is authorized by this Section.

A child care facility may hire, on a probationary basis, any employee authorizing a criminal background investigation under this Section, pending the result of such investigation. If an employee has authorized a criminal background investigation under this Section, but the investigation has not been completed, then the employee may work directly with the children if another employee who has completed a criminal background investigation is present at all times. Employees 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. 93-418, eff. 1-1-04.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.