Expedient Workforce Screening Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6186 To facilitate screening and criminal history background checks for individuals seeking access to qualified chemical and refining infrastructure entities, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 10, 2020 Mr. WEBER of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To facilitate screening and criminal history background checks for individuals seeking access to qualified chemical and refining infrastructure entities, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expedient Workforce 4 Screening Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. PURPOSE; FINDINGS. 6 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to facili- 7 tate screening for individuals seeking access to qualified 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6186.IH H6186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6186 IH chemical and refining infrastructure entities in a manner 1 that promotes public safety while protecting the interests 2 of both individuals and qualified entities. 3 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 4 (1) Federal Criminal History Record Informa- 5 tion (CHRI) is an essential and widely accepted re- 6 source for background screening. 7 (2) The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 8 (FBI) existing CHRI system, the Interstate Identi- 9 fication Index (III), including the National Finger- 10 print File (NFF), is a partnership between the 11 States and the FBI. It is the primary means for ac- 12 cessing and communicating CHRI for criminal jus- 13 tice and certain critical noncriminal justice purposes. 14 (3) The existing CHRI system is built on infor- 15 mation maintained by the States. CHRI available 16 from the States represents 95 percent of the CHRI 17 available for background check decisions. 18 (4) Today, access to a national criminal history 19 background check through the FBI is dependent on 20 a patchwork of legal authorizations, resulting in on- 21 going requests for new Federal or State authorizing 22 legislation by private sector entities that do not cur- 23 rently have a means of access. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6186.IH H6186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6186 IH (5) An enhanced system for facilitating chem- 1 ical and refining infrastructure access to CHRI for 2 venue access should rely upon a user-fee-funded 3 mechanism through which qualified chemical and re- 4 fining infrastructure entities nationwide can obtain 5 fingerprint-based positive identification and national 6 criminal history background checks from the FBI. 7 (6) Qualified chemical and refining infrastruc- 8 ture entities should be free to use either a national 9 criminal history background check through the FBI 10 or a court-sourced history record information 11 through a check using name and other identifiers, 12 fingerprints, or a combination of both. 13 (7) Any national system for qualified chemical 14 and refining infrastructure noncriminal justice back- 15 ground checks must adhere to high standards for 16 privacy and security, including mechanisms for those 17 seeking access to challenge accuracy and complete- 18 ness of the information reported about them. 19 (8) The national criminal history background 20 check system should leverage the most recent tech- 21 nological advances to obtain high speed responses, as 22 well as enhance accuracy and completeness. 23 (9) The national criminal history background 24 check system does not alter the Department of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6186.IH H6186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6186 IH Homeland Security’s responsibilities under the 1 Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act and the per- 2 formance standards for high risk chemical facilities. 3 SEC. 3. NATIONAL CRIMINAL HISTORY BACKGROUND 4 CHECK PROGRAM. 5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PROGRAM.—The Attor- 6 ney General, acting through the Director of the FBI, shall 7 establish and implement a program to be known as the 8 ‘‘National Criminal History Chemical and Refining Back- 9 ground Check Program’’ (referred to in this Act as the 10 ‘‘Program’’) to permit qualified entities to request na- 11 tional criminal history background checks for the purpose 12 of obtaining identification authentication and criminal his- 13 tory background check information of individuals seeking 14 access to a qualified entity. 15 (b) REQUEST SYSTEM.—The Program shall include 16 a system through which a qualified entity may request a 17 national criminal history background check directly 18 through the FBI, which system shall be fingerprint-sup- 19 ported and maintain appropriate privacy protections. 20 (c) ROLE OF QUALIFIED EDUCATIONAL ENTITIES.— 21 The Program shall include a process through which a 22 qualified educational entity may assist in— 23 (1) identification authentication of individuals 24 seeking access to a qualified entity and may obtain 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6186.IH H6186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6186 IH access to the personally identifiable information of 1 such individuals; and 2 (2) setting criminal history record information 3 standards for access to qualified entities. 4 (d) RESPONSE TIME.—To the extent practicable, the 5 FBI shall respond to a request received under the national 6 criminal history background check program under this 7 section not later than two business days after receipt of 8 such request. 9 (e) FEES.—The Attorney General may charge a fee 10 for conducting a national criminal history background 11 check under this section, except that the amount of such 12 fee may not exceed the actual cost of the background 13 check. For purposes of calculating the actual cost of the 14 background check, the Attorney General shall include the 15 cost of building, maintaining, and enhancing an appro- 16 priate Federal and State infrastructure for the national 17 criminal history background check system, technology 18 costs, staffing costs, and administrative costs based on the 19 sum of both State-by-State and Federal costs, and shall 20 review the amount of the fee no less frequently than every 21 two years. 22 SEC. 4. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 23 Nothing in this Act may be construed to— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6186.IH H6186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6186 IH (1) impose a requirement on a qualified entity, 1 a consumer reporting agency, or a State, to partici- 2 pate in the Program; and 3 (2) limit the authority under any other Federal 4 or State law for a qualified entity, a consumer re- 5 porting agency, or an authorized agency to request 6 or provide criminal history background checks that 7 are independent from the Program. 8 SEC. 5. REPORT. 9 Not later than one year after the date of the enact- 10 ment of this Act, the Attorney General shall submit to 11 Congress a report on the Program, including any rec- 12 ommendations for improvements to the Program. 13 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 14 In this Act, the following definitions apply: 15 (1) AUTHORIZED AGENCY.—The term ‘‘author- 16 ized agency’’ means a division or office of a State 17 designated by a State to collect, maintain, and dis- 18 seminate criminal history record information under 19 this Act. 20 (2) QUALIFIED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘qualified 21 entity’’ means an entity that— 22 (A) provides natural gas or petroleum 23 chemical manufacturing or refining-related 24 services, including connecting terminals and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6186.IH H6186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6186 IH pipelines, whether or not regulated under the 1 national critical infrastructure under the Chem- 2 ical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Program 3 under title XXI of the Homeland Security Act 4 of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 621 et seq.), or the Maritime 5 Transportation Security Act of 2002 (Public 6 Law 107–295; 116 Stat. 2064); and 7 (B) is approved by the FBI to request, di- 8 rectly or through a consumer reporting agency, 9 to obtain a fingerprint-supported national 10 criminal history background check for chemical 11 or refining infrastructure access. 12 (3) QUALIFIED EDUCATIONAL ENTITY.—. The 13 term ‘‘qualified educational entity’’ means school or 14 industrial safety training facility that is— 15 (A) described in section 501(c)(3) of the 16 Internal Revenue Code of 1986; 17 (B) American owned; and 18 (C) recognized by the Attorney General to 19 provide assistance to qualified entities under 20 section 3. 21 (4) CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY.—The term 22 ‘‘consumer reporting agency’’ has the meaning given 23 that term under section 603(1) of the Fair Credit 24 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 168la(J)). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6186.IH H6186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6186 IH (5) CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD INFORMA- 1 TION.—The term ‘‘criminal history record informa- 2 tion’’ means information collected by criminal justice 3 agencies on individuals, consisting of identifiable de- 4 scriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, in- 5 dictments, infractions, or other informal criminal 6 charges, and any disposition arising therefrom, in- 7 cluding acquittal, sentencing, correctional super- 8 vision, and release. The term does not include identi- 9 fication information, such as fingerprints, if such in- 10 formation does not indicate the individual’s involve- 11 ment with the criminal justice system. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6186.IH H6186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS