GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 2072

Short Title:  Emp./Elderly Care Records.	(Public)
─────────────────────────────────────── 
Sponsors: Representatives H. Hunter; and Adams.
─────────────────────────────────────── 
Referred to:  Judiciary I.
─────────────────────────────────────── 

June 7, 1994

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO MANDATE CRIMINAL HISTORY AND CENTRAL REGISTRY HISTORY CHECKS OF ALL EMPLOYEES CARING FOR THE ELDERLY. 
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  Chapter 131D of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new Article to read:
"ARTICLE 5.
"Mandatory Criminal and Central Registry Checks
of Employees Caring for the Elderly.
"§ 131D-40.  Mandatory criminal history and  Central Registry checks of all employees who provide direct care to the elderly.
(a)	For purposes of this section:
(1)	'Central Registry history' means a history in the Central Registry on Child Abuse and Neglect of a substantiated claim of child abuse or child neglect as defined by G.S. 7A-517.
(2)	'Criminal history' means a  county, State, or federal criminal history of conviction of a crime, whether a misdemeanor or a felony, that bears upon an individual's fitness to have responsibility for the safety and well-being of children, including homicide, rape and other sex offenses, assaults, kidnapping and abduction, malicious injury or damage by the use of incendiary device or material, offenses against public morality and decency, prostitution, a crime against children, and a crime against the family, as prescribed respectively in Articles 6, 7A, 8, 10, 13, 26, 27, 39, and 40 of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes, a violation of the North Carolina Controlled Substances Act, as prescribed in Article 5 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes, a violation of the law prohibiting driving while impaired, as prescribed in G.S. 20-138.1 through G.S. 20-138.5, a violation of the law forbidding sales of alcohol to, or purchases of alcohol by, minors, as prescribed in G.S. 18B-302(c), and a violation of the law prohibiting public intoxication, as prescribed in G.S. 14-444(b), or similar federal crimes.
(3)	'Employee' means any person employed by the following types of facilities or agencies to provide direct care to the elderly:
a.	Domiciliary care facilities licensed under Article 1 of Chapter 131D of the General Statutes;
b.	Nursing and domiciliary care homes licensed under Part A of Article 6 of Chapter 131E of the General Statutes;
c.	Home care agencies licensed under Part C of Article 6 of Chapter 131E of the General Statutes;
d.	Nursing pools licensed under Part E of Article 6 of Chapter 131E of the General Statutes; and
e.	Hospices licensed under Article 10 of Chapter 131E of the General Statutes.
(b)	Effective January 1, 1995, the Department of Human Resources shall ensure that all employees are checked for both any criminal history and any Central Registry history and may, by denying or revoking a license to provide direct care to the elderly, prohibit an employee from providing direct care to the elderly:
(1)	Who has a criminal history; or
(2)	Who has a Central Registry history if the Department determines that the substantiated claim bears upon an individual's fitness to have responsibility for the safety and well-being of the elderly.
(c)	The Department of Justice may provide to the Department of Human Resources the criminal history of any employee from the State and National Repositories of Criminal Histories.  The Division shall provide to the Department of Justice, along with the request, the fingerprints of the employee to be checked, any additional information required by the Department of Justice, and a form consenting to the check of the criminal record and to the use of the fingerprints and other identifying information required by the repositories signed by the employee to be checked.  Refusal to consent is grounds for the Department to prohibit the employee from providing direct care to the elderly.
(d)	The Division of Social Services may provide to the Department of Human Resources the Central Registry history of an employee if this employee signs a form consenting to this record check.  Refusal to consent is grounds for the Department to prohibit the employee from providing direct care to the elderly.
(e)	The Department of Human Resources shall notify in writing the employee and that person's employer of any disqualifying information resulting from the check of the criminal history or of the Central Registry history, together with the Department's action pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.
An employee who disagrees with the decision of the Department may commence a contested case by filing a petition under G.S. 150B-23 within 30 days after the Department's notification.  If the employee does not file a petition within the required time, the Department's decision is final and not subject to review.
(f)	All the information received by the Department through the checking of the criminal history and of the Central Registry history pursuant to the checks required by this section is privileged information and for the exclusive use of the Department and those people authorized under this section to receive the information.  The Department may destroy the information after it is used for the purposes authorized by this section after one calendar year.
(g)	No action for civil or criminal liability shall be brought against an employer or a State or local agency as a result of the check of the criminal or Central Registry history if the employer or State or local agency was acting in good faith and in accordance with this section and the rules established pursuant to it.
(h)	The Department of Justice shall charge a reasonable fee for conducting the checks of the criminal records authorized by this section.
(i)	The Department of Human Resources, Division of Aging, shall bear the costs of implementing this section."
Sec. 2.  G.S. 114-19 reads as rewritten:
"§ 114-19.  Criminal statistics.
(a)	It shall be the duty of the State Bureau of Investigation to receive and collect police information, to assist in locating, identifying, and keeping records of criminals in this State, and from other states, and to compare, classify, compile, publish, make available and disseminate any and all such information to the sheriffs, constables, police authorities, courts or any other officials of the State requiring such criminal identification, crime statistics and other information respecting crimes local and national, and to conduct surveys and studies for the purpose of determining so far as is possible the source of any criminal conspiracy, crime wave, movement or cooperative action on the part of the criminals, reporting such conditions, and to cooperate with all officials in detecting and preventing.
¨(b)	The State Bureau of Investigation shall, on a daily basis, notify the Department of Revenue of all reports it receives pursuant to G.S. 114-18.1 of arrests and seizures involving non-tax-paid controlled substances and counterfeit controlled substances.  The Bureau shall also, as soon as practicable, provide the Department with any additional information it receives regarding such arrests and seizures.
(c)	The Department of Justice may provide to the Division of Social Services, Department of Human Resources, the criminal history of any employee from the State and National Repositories of Criminal Histories.  The Division shall provide to the Department of Justice, along with the request, the fingerprints of the person to be checked, any additional information required by the Department of Justice, and a form consenting to the check of the criminal record and to the use of the fingerprints and other identifying information required by the repositories signed by the employee to be checked.  Refusal to consent is grounds for the Department to prohibit the employee from providing direct care to the elderly.
(d)	The Department of Justice shall charge a reasonable fee for conducting the checks of the criminal records authorized by this section."
Sec. 3.  The Department of Human Resources shall adopt rules to implement this act, in consultation with the Division of Aging, and the Division of Criminal Information of the Department of Justice.
Sec. 4.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Human Resources, Division of Aging, the sum of four million dollars ($4,000,000) for the 1994-95 fiscal year to implement this act.
Sec. 5.  This act becomes effective January 1, 1995. This act applies to employees providing direct care to the elderly on or after that date.