The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCTED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Senate section on pages S6606-S6608 on Sept. 10, 2015.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCTED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. Johnson, Ms. Baldwin, Mrs. Ernst, and Mr. Brown):
S. 2021. A bill to prohibit Federal agencies and Federal contractors from requesting that an applicant for employment disclose criminal history record information before the applicant has received a conditional offer, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I wish to introduce the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act of 2015 or the Fair Chance Act. This bipartisan bill has the support of Senators Johnson, Baldwin, Ernst, and Brown, and I thank them for their support. Today, a bipartisan House companion bill to the Fair Chance Act has also been introduced. I thank Congressmen Cummings, Issa, Jackson Lee, Blumenauer, Watson Coleman, Richmond, Conyers, and Scott for their leadership on this issue.
Everyone deserves the dignity of work and the opportunity for a second chance to earn a living. But far too many Americans who return home from behind bars have to disclose convictions on their initial employment application or initial job interview that often serve as insurmountable barriers to employment. This legislation would ensure that people with convictions, who have paid their debt to society and want to turn their lives around, have a fair chance to work.
By encouraging Federal employers to focus on an individual's qualifications and merit, and not solely on past mistakes, the Fair Chance Act would remove burdensome and unnecessary obstacles that prevent formerly incarcerated people from reaching their full potential and contributing to society. It would also help reduce recidivism, combat poverty, and prevent violence in our communities by helping people get back to work.
In the last 30 years, our prison population has exploded. Since 1980, the Federal prison population has grown by nearly 800 percent and our total prison population exceeds more than 2.2 million people. Taxpayers are wasting billions of dollars on overcrowded prisons that crush priceless human potential with lengthy prison terms that have failed to make our communities safer. Yet, more than 90 percent of those sentenced to prison eventually get out and return home. Indeed, over 600,000 people are released from prison each year.
Equally troubling, a high number of Americans living in our communities have criminal convictions. About 70 million people in the U.S. have been arrested or convicted of a crime. That means, almost one in three adults in the U.S. has a criminal record. In fact, in the Nation's capital alone an estimated 1 in 10 D.C. residents has a criminal record.
The American Bar Association has identified over 44,500 ``collateral consequences''--or legal constraints--placed on what individuals with records can do once they have been released from prison. Of those, up to 70 percent are related to employment.
Without a job, it is impossible to provide for oneself and one's family. Yet, thousands of people with criminal convictions reenter society each year without employment. According to a recent New York Times/CBS News/Kaiser Family Foundation poll, men with criminal records account for about 34 percent of all nonworking men between the ages of 25 and 54. In addition, a landmark study by Professor Devah Pager, of Harvard University's Department of Sociology, found that a criminal record reduces the likelihood of a callback or a job offer by nearly 50 percent for men in general. African-American men with criminal records have been 60 percent less likely to receive a callback or job offer than those with criminal records. In the land of opportunity, a criminal conviction should not be a life sentence to unemployment.
Today, a criminal conviction is a modern day scarlet letter that--
because of the so-called ``War on Drugs''--has had a disproportionate impact on communities of color. For example, African-American men with a conviction are 40 percent less likely to receive an interview. And the likelihood that Latino men with a record will receive an interview or be offered a job is 18 percent smaller than the likelihood for white men.
Creating employment opportunities for our returning citizens benefits public safety. With little hope of obtaining a decent paying job, returning citizens are often left with few options but to return to a life of crime. A 2011 study in the Justice Quarterly concluded that the lack of employment was the single most negative determinant of recidivism. A report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that of the over 400,000 state prisoners released in 2005, 67.8 percent of them were re-arrested within 3 years of their release. And 76.6 percent were re-arrested within 5 years of their release.
Creating employment opportunities for our returning citizens also strengthens our economy. Poor job prospects for people with records reduced our nation's gross domestic product in 2008 between $57 billion and $65 billion. With an integrated global economy that is becoming more and more competitive, it is imperative that we encourage sound policy that promotes the gainful employment of Americans.
A formerly incarcerated person--and later President--named Nelson Mandela once said, ``For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.'' The American criminal justice system is predicated on this ideal, the belief that an individual who has committed a crime can, and should be, reformed into a productive member of society over their time of imprisonment. The ideal that, once released from prison, that individual should have the opportunity to enrich himself and his community upon his reentry into society.
The Fair Chance Act would help fix unemployment barriers for formerly incarcerated people and bring America closer to truly being a land of opportunity for all. It would ban the Federal Government--including the executive, legislative, and judicial branches--from requesting criminal history information from applicants until they reach the conditional offer stage. This bill strikes the right balance. It would allow qualified people with criminal records to get their foot in the door and be judged on their own merit. At the same time, the legislation would allow employers to know an individual's criminal history before the job applicant is hired.
This bill would also prohibit Federal contractors from requesting criminal history information from candidates for positions within the scope of Federal contracts until the conditional offer stage. Companies that do business with the Federal Government and receive Federal funds should espouse good hiring practices. The Fair Chance Act would permit Federal contractors to inquire about criminal history earlier in the application process if a candidate would have access to classified information.
The legislation includes important exceptions for sensitive positions where criminal history inquiries are necessary earlier in the application process. Exceptions are included for positions involving classified information, sensitive national security duties, armed forces, and law enforcement jobs, and for when criminal history information for a job is legally required prior to a conditional offer.
Finally, this bill would require the Department of Labor, U.S. Census Bureau, and Bureau of Justice Statistics to issue a report on the employment statistics of formerly incarcerated individuals. Currently, no comprehensive tracking of data on the employment histories of people with convictions exists. This provision would change that and allow us to better understand the scope of the problem people with convictions face when trying to find a job.
Many of the reforms in this bill have been urged for years. In 2011, then-Attorney General Eric Holder called for making the Federal Government a model employer. And the White House's My Brother Keeper's Initiative has endorsed fair chance reforms. Earlier this year, I was proud to join 26 other Senators in a letter to the President urging an executive order that would ban Federal contractors from asking job applicants about their criminal histories. But more must be done.
States and localities have led the way on providing people with convictions meaningful job opportunities, and the Federal Government must catch up. So far 18 States, including Georgia and Nebraska, and over 100 cities and counties have taken steps to prohibit government agencies from asking job applicants about criminal convictions until later in the process.
Some of the Nation's largest companies already have fair chance policies. Companies such as Wal-Mart, Target, Starbucks, Koch Industries, Home Depot, and Bed, Bath and Beyond, have reserved the criminal history inquiry until later in the hiring process. These companies know that creating economic opportunity for people with criminal history is not just good policy, it's good business.
This bipartisan legislation has the support of numerous groups, including the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Employment Law Project, the Center for Urban Families, Bend the Arc Jewish Action, and the National Black Prosecutors Association.
We are a nation built on liberty and justice for all. Once a person's sentence has ended, they should not continue to be forever shackled by their past. That turns the concept of justice upside down. It is contrary to who we are and what we stand for.
President George W. Bush once said that ``America is the land of second chance, and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.'' But far too often the road back into the community is paved with poverty, hopelessness, and unemployment. When President Obama commuted the offenses of 46 drug offenders earlier this year, he also affirmed that ``we have to ensure that as [formerly incarcerated people] do their time and pay back their debt to society, that we are increasing the possibility that they can turn their lives around.''
The ideal that America is a place that values second chances is bipartisan and rooted deeply in our country's history, and the opportunity to turn one's life around is a fundamental principle of justice. With the introduction of this important criminal justice reform legislation, we aim to fulfill the promise of our great democracy and make access to the American Dream real for thousands of Americans who have paid their debts to society.
The Fair Chance Act would give so many Americans a fair chance to obtain Federal jobs or work with Federal contractors. It would improve public safety, boost our economy, and adhere to our shared values of liberty and justice for all. I urge my fellow Senators to join me in supporting this important criminal justice reform bill.
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