CHAPTER 138
HB 1224 – FINAL VERSION
24Mar2010… 1090h
04/21/10 1360s
19May2010… 2079eba
2010 SESSION
03/04
HOUSE BILL 1224
AN ACT relative to school employee and volunteer background investigations and relative to applicants for driver education certificates and school licenses.
SPONSORS: Rep. Patten, Carr 4; Rep. Pilotte, Hills 16; Rep. Millham, Belk 5; Rep. Taylor, Graf 2
This bill prohibits the hiring of any person charged pending disposition for certain crimes by school administrative units, school districts, and chartered public schools. This bill also requires applicants for driver education certificates and school licenses to notify the director of the division of motor vehicles if they have been arrested, indicted, or summonsed to court for certain offenses.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
24Mar2010… 1090h
04/21/10 1360s
19May2010… 2079eba
10-2186
03/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten
AN ACT relative to school employee and volunteer background investigations and relative to applicants for driver education certificates and school licenses.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
138:1 School Employee and Volunteer Background Investigations. Amend RSA 189:13-a, II-V to read as follows:
II. The selected applicant for employment or designated volunteer with a school administrative unit, school district, or chartered public school shall submit to the employer a notarized criminal history records release form, as provided by the division of state police, which authorizes the release of information regarding the presence or absence of any record of convictions of the applicant of felonies or of charges pending disposition for or convictions of the applicant of the crimes listed in paragraph V. The applicant shall submit with the release form a complete set of fingerprints taken by a qualified law enforcement agency or an authorized employee of the school administrative unit, school district, or chartered public school. In the event that the first set of fingerprints is invalid due to insufficient pattern and a second set of fingerprints is necessary in order to complete the criminal history records check, the conditional offer of employment shall remain in effect. If, after 2 attempts, a set of fingerprints is invalid due to insufficient pattern, the school administrative unit, school district, or chartered public school may, in lieu of the criminal history records check, accept police clearances from every city, town, or county where an applicant has lived during the past 5 years.
III. The school administrative unit, school district, or chartered public school shall submit the criminal history records release form to the New Hampshire state police which shall conduct a criminal history records check through its records and through the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Upon completion of the background investigation, the state police shall examine the list of crimes constituting grounds for non-approval of employment, or non-acceptance of volunteer services in that school administrative unit, school district, or chartered public school, and shall report the presence or absence of any such crime to the school administrative unit, school district, or chartered public school. Under no circumstances shall the criminal records be released to the school administrative unit, school district, or chartered public school. The school administrative unit, school district, or chartered public school shall maintain the confidentiality of all criminal history records information received pursuant to this paragraph. If the criminal history records information indicates no criminal record, the school administrative unit, school district, or chartered public school shall destroy the information received immediately following its review of the information. If the criminal history records information indicates that the applicant has been convicted of a felony or has been charged pending disposition for or convicted of a crime listed in paragraph V, the school administrative unit, school district, or chartered public school shall review the information for a hiring decision, and the division of state police shall notify the department of education of any such charges pending disposition or convictions. The school administrative unit, school district, or chartered public school shall destroy any criminal history record information that indicates a criminal record within 30 days of receiving such information.
IV. The school administrative unit, school district, or chartered public school may require the selected applicant for employment or designated volunteer to pay the actual costs of the background investigation and a criminal history records check.
V. Any person who has been charged pending disposition for or convicted of any violation or attempted violation of RSA 630:1; 630:1-a; 630:1-b; 630:2; 632-A:2; 632-A:3; 632-A:4; 633:1; 639:2; 639:3; 645:1, II or III; 645:2; 649-A:3; 649-A:3-a; 649-A:3-b; 649-B:3; or 649-B:4; or any violation or any attempted violation of RSA 650:2 where the act involves a child in material deemed obscene; in this state, or under any statute prohibiting the same conduct in another state, territory, or possession of the United States, shall not be hired by a school administrative unit, school district, or chartered public school. By decision of the appropriate governing body, a school administrative unit, school district, or chartered public school may deny a selected applicant a final offer of employment if such person has been convicted of any felony in addition to those listed above. The governing body may adopt a policy stating that any person who has been convicted of any felony, or any of a list of felonies, shall not be hired.
138:2 Motor Vehicle Drivers’ School; Notification of Offenses. Amend RSA 263:46-a, I to read as follows:
I. Every holder of a driver education certificate or school license or applicant for a driver education certificate or school license shall notify the director within 5 business days by certified mail, return receipt requested, of being arrested, indicted, or summonsed to court in this or any other state or foreign jurisdiction as a defendant for an offense under RSA 265:79, RSA 265:79-a, RSA 265:79-b, RSA [265:80, RSA 265:82, or RSA 265:82-a] 265-A:2, RSA 265-A:3, or RSA 265-A:43, or any offense under RSA 630, RSA 631, or RSA 632-A. If employed or under contract to a school or school district, the licensee, [or] certificate holder, or applicant shall provide a copy of the notification made to the director to the principal or equivalent chief administrator of the school in like manner and time frame.
138:3 Contingency. If SB 477 of the 2010 regular session of the general court becomes law, then section 2 of this act shall not take effect. If SB 477 of the 2010 regular session of the general court does not become law, then section 2 of this act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
138:4 Effective Date.
I. Section 2 of this act shall take effect as provided in section 3 of this act.
II. The remainder of this act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
Approved: June 14, 2010
Effective Date: I. Section 2 shall take effect as provided in section 3.
II. Remainder shall take effect August 13, 2010.