Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Private Security Officer Screening Improvement Act of 2021”.
Private Security Officer Screening Improvement Act of 2021
A BILL
To amend the Private Security Officer Employment Authorization Act of 2004 to establish a national criminal history background check system and criminal history review program for private security officers.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
There are approximately 1,000,000 private security officers in the United States, both contract and proprietary. Private security officers are considered persons of trust by the public. They are entrusted to safeguard and protect people and property, including nuclear power plants, schools, hospitals, banks, places of worship, living communities, shopping malls, and entertainment venues.
The Next Generation Identification system of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (referred to in this section as the “FBI”) maintains fingerprints and criminal history records on more than 79,000,000 individuals. FBI criminal history background checks on private security officers have uncovered serious criminal convictions that did not show up in State and commercial criminal history background checks. Accordingly, it is clearly in the public interest for private security officers and applicants to be subject to FBI criminal history background checks.
Congress has worked with the States to make FBI criminal history background checks available to employers of private security officers through the Private Security Officer Employment Authorization Act of 2004 (34 U.S.C. 41106) (referred to in this section as the “PSOEAA”) and statutes enacted by dozens of States in compliance with Public Law 92–544. The PSOEAA authorized employers of private security officers to request FBI criminal history background checks on their officers and applicants through a State agency. However, since the enactment of the PSOEAA in 2004, not all States have made FBI criminal history background checks available to employers of private security officers. As a result, there are many private security officers and applicants for which employers are unable to obtain FBI criminal history background checks as authorized by the PSOEAA.
Sec. 3 National criminal history background check and criminal history review program
The Private Security Officer Employment Authorization Act of 2004 (34 U.S.C. 41106) is amended—
in subsection (c)—
in paragraph (2)(B), by inserting “or a designated entity” after “a State identification bureau”;
by redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph (7);
by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively;
by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
“(3) Designated entity—The term designated entity means an entity designated by the Attorney General, which may not be a Federal agency, to receive and process requests under subsection (d).”
by inserting after paragraph (5), as so redesignated, the following:
“(6) State—The term State means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Trust Territories of the Pacific.”
in subsection (d)—
in paragraph (1)—
in subparagraph (A), by striking “the State identification bureau of a participating State” and inserting “a State identification bureau or a designated entity”;
in subparagraph (B)(i), by striking “to the State identification bureau of the participating State the” and inserting “a”;
in subparagraph (C)—
in the heading—
by striking “the state” and inserting “a State”; and
by inserting “or designated entity” after “bureau”;
in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking “the State identification bureau of a participating State” and inserting “a State identification bureau or a designated entity”; and
in clause (ii), by inserting “or designated entity” after “State identification bureau”;
in subparagraph (D)—
in clause (i), by striking “the State identification bureau” and inserting “a State identification bureau or a designated entity”; and
in clause (ii)—
in subclause (I), in the matter preceding item (aa)—
by striking “a participating” and inserting “employment in a”; and
by inserting “identification bureau or a designated entity” after “the State”; and
in subclause (II)—
by striking “a participating” and inserting “employment in a”; and
by inserting “identification bureau or a designated entity” after “the State”; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(F) State criminal history check—A designated entity may, upon request from an authorized employer, complete a check of a State criminal history database.
“(G) Designated entities—The Attorney General shall designate, and enter into an agreement with, one or more entities to receive and process requests under this subsection.”
in paragraph (4), by adding at the end the following:
“(D) Federal program costs
“(i) In general—In the case of a criminal history record information search submitted through a designated entity in accordance with this subsection, the fees collected by the designated entity shall be set at a level that will ensure the recovery of the full costs of providing all such services.
“(ii) Requirement—The designated entity shall remit the appropriate portion of the fees collected under clause (i) to the Attorney General, which amount is in accordance with the amount published in the Federal Register to be collected for the provision of a criminal history background check by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Sec. 4 Regulations
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall issue such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the amendments made by this Act.