Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act

.

Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act - Requires states that receive funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to:

• require criminal background checks for each school employee that include searches of the criminal registry or repository of the state in which the employee resides, the child abuse and neglect registries and databases of that state, the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the National Sex Offender Registry;
• prohibit the employment of an individual who refuses to consent to, or who makes a false statement in connection with, a background check or who has been convicted of one of specified felonies or of a violent or sexual crime against a minor;
• require background checks to be periodically repeated or updated in accordance with state law or the policies of the state's local educational agencies (LEAs);
• provide school employees who have had a background check with a copy of the background check if they request one and a timely process to appeal the results of the background check if it blocks their service as a school employee;
• ensure that such policies and procedures are published on state and LEA websites; and
• allow an LEA to share the results of a recent background check on a school employee with another LEA that is considering that individual for employment.

Prohibits states and LEAs from knowingly transferring or facilitating the transfer of any school employee if they know, or have substantive reason to believe, that such employee engaged in sexual misconduct with an elementary or secondary school student.

Allows: (1) the Attorney General and state law enforcement officials to charge reasonable fees for conducting the background checks, and (2) states and LEAs to use ESEA administrative funds to pay such fees.

[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2083 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2083

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require 
            criminal background checks for school employees.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 22, 2013

 Mr. George Miller of California (for himself, Ms. Wilson of Florida, 
 Mr. Rangel, Ms. Slaughter, and Mrs. McCarthy of New York) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education 
                           and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require 
            criminal background checks for school employees.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Students from Sexual and 
Violent Predators Act''.

SEC. 2. BACKGROUND CHECKS.

    Subpart 2 of part E of title IX of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7901 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following:

``SEC. 9537. BACKGROUND CHECKS.

    ``(a) Background Checks.--Each State educational agency that 
receives funds under this Act shall have in effect policies and 
procedures that--
            ``(1) require that criminal background checks be conducted 
        for each school employee that include--
                    ``(A) a search of the State criminal registry or 
                repository in the State in which the school employee 
                resides and each State in which the school employee 
                previously resided;
                    ``(B) a search of State-based child abuse and 
                neglect registries and databases in the State in which 
                the school employee resides and each State in which the 
                school employee previously resided;
                    ``(C) a Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint 
                check using the Integrated Automated Fingerprint 
                Identification System; and
                    ``(D) a search of the National Sex Offender 
                Registry established under section 19 of the Adam Walsh 
                Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 
                16919);
            ``(2) prohibit the employment of an individual as a school 
        employee if such individual--
                    ``(A) refuses to consent to a criminal background 
                check under paragraph (1);
                    ``(B) makes a false statement in connection with 
                such criminal background check;
                    ``(C) has been convicted of a felony consisting 
                of--
                            ``(i) homicide;
                            ``(ii) child abuse or neglect;
                            ``(iii) a crime against children, including 
                        child pornography;
                            ``(iv) spousal abuse;
                            ``(v) a crime involving rape or sexual 
                        assault;
                            ``(vi) kidnapping;
                            ``(vii) arson; or
                            ``(viii) physical assault, battery, or a 
                        drug-related offense, committed within 5 years 
                        of the completion of such individual's criminal 
                        background check under paragraph (1); or
                    ``(D) has been convicted of any other crime that is 
                a violent or sexual crime against a minor;
            ``(3) require that a local educational agency or State 
        educational agency that receives information from a criminal 
        background check conducted paragraph (1) that an individual who 
        has applied for employment as a school employee with such 
        agency is a sexual predator, report to local law enforcement 
        that such individual has so applied;
            ``(4) require that criminal background checks conducted 
        under paragraph (1) be periodically repeated or updated in 
        accordance with State law or local educational policy, but not 
        less than once every 5 years;
            ``(5) require that each school employee who has had a 
        criminal background check under paragraph (1) be provided with 
        a copy of the background check; and
            ``(6) provide for a timely process by which a school 
        employee may appeal, but which does not permit the school 
        employee to be employed as a school employee during such 
        appeal, the results of a criminal background check conducted 
        under paragraph (1) to--
                    ``(A) challenge the accuracy or completeness of the 
                information produced by such background check; and
                    ``(B) seek appropriate relief for any final 
                employment decision based on materially inaccurate or 
                incomplete information produced by such background 
                check.
    ``(b) Inventory Authorized.--A State educational agency may 
maintain an inventory of all the information from criminal background 
checks conducted under subsection (a)(1) on school employees in the 
State.
    ``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) School employee.--The term `school employee' means--
                    ``(A) an employee of, or a person seeking 
                employment with, a local educational agency or State 
                educational agency, and who has a job duty that results 
                in access to students; or
                    ``(B) an employee of, or a person seeking 
                employment with, a for-profit or nonprofit entity, or 
                local public agency, that has a contract or agreement 
                to provide services with a school, local educational 
                agency, or State educational agency, and whose job 
                duty--
                            ``(i) is to provide such services; and
                            ``(ii) results in access to students.
            ``(2) Sexual predator.--The term `sexual predator' means a 
        person 18 years of age or older who has been convicted of, or 
        pled guilty to, a sexual offense against a minor.''.

SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.

    Section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 is 
amended by adding after the item relating to section 9536 the 
following:

``Sec. 9537. Background checks.''.
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