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“PROVIDING FOR CERTAIN ACCESS TO NATIONAL CRIME INFORMATION DATABASES” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H3805-H3808 on June 13, 2006.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
PROVIDING FOR CERTAIN ACCESS TO NATIONAL CRIME INFORMATION DATABASES
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4894) to provide for certain access to national crime information databases by schools and educational agencies for employment purposes, with respect to individuals who work with children.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 4894
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. ACCESS TO NATIONAL CRIME INFORMATION DATABASES BY
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES FOR CERTAIN
PURPOSES.
(a) In General.--The Attorney General of the United States shall, upon request of the chief executive officer of a State, conduct fingerprint-based checks of the national crime information databases (as defined in section 534(f)(3)(A) of title 28, United States Code, as redesignated under subsection (e)), pursuant to a request submitted by an entity of the State, or unit of local government, which is designated to conduct background checks on individuals employed by, under consideration for employment by, or volunteering for, a private or public elementary school, private or public secondary school, local educational agency, or State educational agency in that State in a position in which the individual would work with or around children. Where possible, the check shall include a fingerprint-based check of State criminal history databases. The Attorney General and the States may charge any applicable fees for these checks.
(b) Protection of Information.--An individual having information derived as a result of a check under subsection
(a) may release that information only to an appropriate officer of a private elementary school, private secondary school, local educational agency, or State educational agency, or to any person authorized by law to receive that information.
(c) Criminal Penalties.--An individual who knowingly exceeds the authority in subsection (a), or knowingly releases information in violation of subsection (b), shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years or fined under title 18, United States Code, or both.
(d) Definitions.--In this section, the terms ``elementary school'', ``local educational agency'', ``secondary school'', and ``State educational agency'', have the meanings given to those terms in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
(e) Technical Correction.--Section 534 of title 28, United States Code, as amended by section 905(a) of the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-162), is further amended by redesignating the second subsection (e) as subsection (f).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) and the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner).
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General Leave
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4894 currently under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Wisconsin?
There was no objection.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4894 sponsored by the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Porter). This legislation provides our Nation's schools with an additional tool to ensure the safety of our schoolchildren when hiring teachers, staff and volunteers.
Children are our Nation's greatest resource. Parents trust that when they send their children off to school they will be provided a safe environment in which to learn. Teachers are vested with a tremendous responsibility of preparing kids for a successful future, and the overwhelming majority of our educators conduct themselves as consummate professionals.
Unfortunately, we sometimes hear about teachers who engage in criminal conduct involving students. These few bad apples not only jeopardize our children's safety, but tarnish the reputation of those in the educational community. While all incidents of this nature are an outrage, the tragedy of some is compounded when these deplorable actions are perpetrated by individuals whose past criminal record should have identified them as potential threats.
Today all States require some type of background check for school employees. Unfortunately, some individuals with alarming records of criminal conduct slip through the cracks. Last year police in Charlevoix, Michigan, discovered that a convicted sex offender was volunteering as the director of the AmeriCorp program for the local school district. The man had an arrest record dating back to 1964, including sex offenses involving children.
School officials submitted the man's date of birth, Social Security number and driver's license number for a background check through the State system. However, his criminal record did not show up because the man had legally changed his name some 20 years earlier. Authorities learned of his criminal history only after he underwent a fingerprint check for a weapons permit.
In May, a California teacher was convicted on 17 counts of molesting nine students. Just last week, a second California teacher was arrested on charges that he molested a third-grade student. Even more disturbing is that this man had been suspected of a similar incident in 1990 and arrested for attempted rape in 1994.
This bill gives States direct access to Federal fingerprint databases to make sure that convicted sex offenders never work in a school again. Many school districts are experiencing a surge in growth that in turn increases the demand for qualified teachers and staff. Schools are under added pressure to expedite the hiring process to meet this demand. H.R. 4894 streamlines access to the Federal fingerprint databases so schools can be confident that they are hiring upstanding teachers and staff.
The bill authorizes the Attorney General to provide States with accurate fingerprint-based background checks for current school employees and prospective faculty, staff and volunteers who work with children. Either the Attorney General or the State may charge a fee for the check. The background information may be released only to the appropriate school official or State education agency, and any person who exceeds this authority or misuses the background information may be fined or imprisoned for up to 10 years.
I commend the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Porter) for his work on this issue, and urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, allow me first of all to say that in our work on the Committee on the Judiciary, and particularly the Subcommittee on Crime, there is no doubt that one of the most prevalent issues that we address is a way to protect our children, whether it is against sexual predators, whether it is against the heinous acts of individuals who not only sexually abuse our children but then ultimately kill them, and certainly we are aware of the far-reaching impact that the lack of structure and process has on our educational system, particularly individuals who are working in our schools, primary and secondary, and work with our children as it relates to sports activities.
So I am certainly in support of H.R. 4894, and clearly I would argue that we have a better product. I do not want to be anywhere suggesting that we are not fighting for our children. I do want to offer the fact that, as I indicated, that we have a better product, that we can agree that the criminal background checks done on individuals working with children is something we all want, and certainly we want to be able to include those who pose a threat.
But we do want to have a criminal background check system, of course, that has the elements of some order and constitutional protection. Might I just say to my colleagues that a version of the language that is in this bill already passed twice in H.R. 3132 and H.R. 4472, which really means in a bipartisan way we agree with this. So I thank the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Porter) for reinforcing our agreement.
I do hope as we talk about our particular issues that we would recognize that it is important to be able to put in the processes that would question whether all raw data is the kind of data that we should include for access by these institutional entities.
I do believe as we move toward the Senate and have a conference on this bill, we will find common ground so that what we put forward will protect our children absolutely and as well be a system that will be readily accessible to our educational institutions and at the same time give them the information that they need to ensure that those who are apt to injure, harm our children, are weeded out of our educational system.
We like the streamlined process. We like the fact that the Attorney General is, if you will, able to handle the fingerprints and data. But I know as we make our way toward conference we will have even a further opportunity to make this bill the kind of bill that provides the support and safety in the employment place of our educational institutions for all of our children.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Porter), the principal author of the bill.
Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Sensenbrenner, the majority leader, Mr. Boehner, Mr. McKeon, and my good friend, Mr. Kirk, who has helped me organize this agenda for the country, and the 50 some cosponsors.
Mr. Speaker, we have an epidemic in the United States. We have an epidemic of sexual predators following our children, whether it be on the computers, whether it be in our public parks, whether it be in the workplace, or even our schools.
I would suggest that all Members of Congress take a look at maps that local law enforcement have of the sexual predators that hang around our schools, that move into our school areas, if not adjacent across the streets from our schools. We need tools. We need additional tools to help our teachers and professionals, our administrators in our schools to streamline the process to get as much information as possible.
As Chairman Sensenbrenner mentioned the Michigan example, it is unacceptable that a teacher could change his name legally and still teach, having been in prison for having molested an 8-year-old child. Currently, only 26 States are in the compact approved by Congress in 1999 giving States the tools to do background checks through the FBI. That means there are 27 million students in 24 States that do not have this same tool available to them to make sure their environment is safe.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is common sense. It streamlines the process for all 50 States. It allows access by all 50 States to this information, and will not circumvent existing background checks and procedures by our school districts, who I know are trying to do the right thing.
We are fortunate to have some of the greatest and best teachers in the world, but we want to make sure that those few that try to sneak through the system are caught in advance.
As a Member of Congress from one of the fastest growing States in the country, we hire close to 2,500 new teachers a year, close to 5,000 support staff and faculty. We need to make sure that the fast-growing States and the balance of States in this country have as much information as available because I cannot imagine the pain as a parent myself of having my child molested by someone in our schools.
Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of our teachers and administrators and school boards for what they are doing. We need to make sure they have the latest in technology available. Through this bill, all school districts will have access to this information. I would ask for the support of this body for H.R. 4894. I appreciate the time we have today.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, let me just say as I indicated, I applauded Mr. Porter for his vision on protecting our children and also for responding to many of the educational institutions around America who have asked for some sort of format, some sort of structure to help them be able to, if you will, navigate themselves around this massive criminal justice system that in fact has an impact on how children are cared for in our schools and day care centers and places of sports activities.
But I do think as I support this legislation that Americans also understand that we want people to have an opportunity for rehabilitation, to engage in a productive life and to be able to provide for their families. Putting aside the sexual predators and those who are plagued by violent crimes and violent crimes against children, I would offer to say that we want to make sure as well that those who are perpetrators of nonviolent crimes or individuals charged with petty theft, but people who have been out of the system for decades have the opportunity for employment and rehabilitation.
I hope as we make our way toward conference again that these considerations will be taken into account and we will review this so we can work with Mr. Porter and work with conferees and work with the Senate to make sure that we get constructive legislation to help us all.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds.
Mr. Speaker, the leader on the Democratic side has given two speeches. The speeches are supposedly in support of the bill, but then there is a whole long list of problems with it. Now we cannot make the perfect the enemy of the good when we are trying to protect children.
This is a bill that gives school districts the tool to get additional information on people who might try to harm children. So I think our committee has done a very good job in considering this legislation and making it not maybe a perfect bill but a very, very good one. We do not need a conference. We ought to pass it today, and then the other body ought to pass it and let's get on with it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Keller).
Mr. KELLER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me this time.
I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4894. This is a commonsense piece of legislation to protect our schoolchildren from being exposed to convicted pedophiles on a daily basis. Isn't it a matter of common sense that a school in my hometown of Orlando, Florida, can do a nationwide criminal background check to make sure that its janitors, coaches and schoolteachers are not convicted pedophiles from New York, Massachusetts, California, or Texas?
Well, that is not happening right now. What does happen is they perform a background check in-state to make sure that someone hasn't been convicted in Florida of being a pedophile, and they perform a background check in 26 other States that signed on as part of a reciprocity agreement in 1998. What they don't check, however, is if anyone has a pedophile conviction from 24 other States, including the largest States in this country, States like California and New York and Texas and Massachusetts.
I became involved in a mentoring program as a volunteer back when I was practicing law called the Compact Mentoring Program. I personally went out and recruited 700 individuals in my community to be mentors to kids who were at risk of dropping out of high school.
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My number one fear is that one of those people I recruited may be a convicted pedophile from another State. We didn't have the tools to do anything about it.
Congressman Jon Porter's bill gives us the tools to do something about it. I think this bill should get an award for the most commonsense piece of legislation we have considered all year.
I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 4894.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick).
Mr. FITZPATRICK of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I am proud today to join Mr. Porter and my fellow members of the Suburban Caucus in support of H.R. 4894. It is fitting that this legislation is the first bill to reach the floor for consideration as part of the Suburban Agenda. H.R. 4894 follows the commonsense set of issues that frames the Suburban Agenda, protecting kids and families at home and at school, providing families with better ways to save for college, and protecting our resources for a sustainable future.
As the father of six children, I want to know that when I or my wife drop our kids off at school that they will be well taken care of. Our teachers are responsible for our children's welfare for the 6 or 8 hours that they are at school, and we need to know without question that their safety will be paramount on the minds of teachers, faculty, and also volunteers.
Unfortunately, some would take advantage of their students. Instead of guiding our children, they are preying on them. Mary Kay Letourneau and Debra Lafave have become household names. But for each high-profile case of inappropriate encounters between teacher and student, how many go unnoticed, unreported?
That is why today's legislation is so important. H.R. 4894 would give schools the ability to request background checks on candidates for employment. Teachers, janitors, administrative staff, all would be subject to a background search through the Department of Justice's national crime information databases.
This legislation protects our kids, our communities, and maintains the high standard that we set for our educators. I am proud to support the legislation today and call on my colleagues to support it as well.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey).
Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4894, the School Safety Acquiring Faculty Excellence Act, and I congratulate the leadership of my friend and colleague, Mr. Porter, and of course of Chairman Sensenbrenner, for bringing this important piece of legislation to the floor today.
This bill allows all States to access national criminal databases to obtain criminal information when hiring teachers. The safety of our children in America's schools is a major priority not only to our Nation's educators, but to every parent and guardian; and that is why I stand in support of it today. We need to make every resource available to our schools to ensure that the qualifications and the background of the faculty they hire are unquestioned.
This legislation streamlines the process and ensures that those who are hired to work with and educate our children are trustworthy, honest, and law abiding citizens. Mr. Speaker, this is a great opportunity for the House of Representatives to take a stand with our communities and our schools and give them the tools necessary to make certain that our children are safe.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished Chair of the Republican Conference, the gentlewoman from Ohio, and a former judge, Ms. Pryce.
Ms. PRYCE of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, ask any group of parents what they worry about most, and I guarantee you that keeping their kids safe in a world that sometimes seems to get more dangerous by the day will be at the very top of that list.
The legislation before us will help make kids in this country safer by giving schools access to national criminal information databases, allowing to them conduct more thorough background checks on prospective teachers. It is as simple as that.
It goes without saying that the vast majority of teachers in this country are praiseworthy men and women dedicated to the well-being of the children that they teach. But, unfortunately, even schools are not safe from the criminals and pedophiles who threaten the innocence and safety of our kids.
It must be a priority of this Congress and our Nation to see that anyone who has harmed a child is brought to justice, and this legislation will help to ensure that no criminal ever finds a safe haven in a school.
I want to thank Mr. Porter for his hard work, Chairman Sensenbrenner for allowing this to go forward and for your hard work. And I am especially pleased to see it move forward as part of the Suburban Agenda. And I urge my colleagues to support the SAFE Act.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time and am prepared to yield back if the gentlewoman from Texas will do the same.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I have requests for time, and I would like to proceed.
Mr. Speaker, let me, as well, thank Chairman Sensenbrenner and thank Ranking Member Conyers, as well as Mr. Coble and Ranking Member Scott for bringing forward a constructive answer to all of our concerns.
Mr. Speaker, I don't take a back seat to anyone in terms of advocacy for children, and fighting against child predators that have harassed and, if you will, violently attacked our children across America. We should stand up for them. I hope that this House will eventually take up the DNA legislation that I have that has a separate, distinctive DNA bank for those who are child predators.
We are grateful that in the subcommittee with Mr. Scott and Mr. Coble this bill has addressed many of the issues that look at this in a broader sense. So it is important when we talk about bills that we want to be as near perfect as we can get. And I believe that we have the political will and the good conscience of this House and the Senate that we will get there. The idea is to protect our children, and the idea as well is to recognize that the parameters of our Constitution will allow us to do that while addressing those concerns. So I am hoping that we will have a perfect bill because our children deserve so and, as well, that we will have a bipartisan effort to work on this issue.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I said I had no further requests for time. Is the gentlewoman from Texas prepared to yield back to allow me to close?
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I have the great pleasure of yielding 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis).
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the committee for bringing this item before us. I am often before this committee with a different issue that relates to the whole business of how do you help individuals reintegrate. But I rise to express strong support for this legislation because I remember the words of the songwriter who said that our children are the future. And given the fact that they are, we have a responsibility to do everything within our power and possibility to make sure that they can grow up safe and secure.
I want to also commend my colleagues and the chairman of one of my subcommittees, Mr. Porter from Nevada, for his work on this legislation. I strongly support it and urge its adoption.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I have no further speakers, and I close simply, Mr. Speaker, by thanking the distinguished gentleman from Illinois who has represented the broadness of our view. We must protect our children, and I believe that this bill is on its way to its perfection so that our children will not be subjected to infractions in this legislation, but truly be protected. And I hope that any other legislative initiative that comes forward to protect our children will receive this bipartisan cooperation that we have achieved in the House Judiciary Committee.
I ask my colleagues to vote for the legislation of Mr. Porter.
I yield back my time.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is not even close to the outer parameters of the Constitution. What it does is it allows the sharing of fingerprint data identification that has all been constitutionally collected with school districts who are hiring new personnel to find out if they have something in their background that would disqualify them from a job working with children. And that is all there is to it.
The fingerprints were valid. It is merely sharing the fingerprints with somebody who has got a legitimate use for them.
Now, there are criminal penalties involved for those who use those fingerprints for other than verifying somebody who is applying for a job at a school or volunteering there, for any other purpose whatsoever.
What has been said in the debate, using the Michigan cases and the two California cases, shows that there are loopholes in the present system that allow people who wish to molest children to get jobs undetected of their past record. And what the gentleman from Nevada is doing is making sure that those people are identified before they can wreck another young life.
What's wrong with that? This doesn't need perfection. It is simple; it is straightforward. And it ought to pass.
Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4894, the School Safety Acquiring Faculty Excellence Act, a measure to provide school districts with the ability to ensure the safety of their classrooms.
I thank Mr. Porter for leading the charge in making certain that children in our schools are learning in the safest environment possible. America's teachers are at the very heart of our education system and play a vital role in the lives of children. Their daily one-
on-one interaction with the children in their classrooms cannot easily be matched.
It is for those reasons that we want to be certain that our teachers are of no threat to our children. The School Safety Acquiring Faculty Excellence Act is a logical and realistic approach to providing school administrators the tools necessary to help ensure their schools are safe.
Mr. Speaker, teachers deserve our utmost appreciation for their service and lifelong dedication to education. It is through this legislation, however, that we also address the realities of today and provide reassurance that we are keeping predators out of our classrooms. The safety and protection of our schoolchildren is imperative.
Again, I would like to thank Mr. Porter for his continued efforts to help guarantee the safety of our schools, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4894, to provide for certain access to national crime information databases by schools and educational agencies for employment purposes, with respect to individuals who work with children. Our children are America's future. It is important that they receive the best education we can offer them. It is also important that they be placed in a safe learning environment. Furthermore, local government has an obligation to provide for the safety and security of students. We help ensure that America's children learn without being put at risk by allowing local, territorial and state educational agencies to access national crime information databases.
Teachers play a prominent role in the lives of children and in the shaping of their character. This bill gives public and private schools the tools they need to ensure that the teachers they hire uphold the highest standards of conduct while educating our children. I support H.R. 4894 because it will help keep America's children safe inside the classroom.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Feeney). The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4894.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.
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