CRIMINAL HISTORY CHECKS; CHILD CARE                                                       S.B. 539:

                                                                                                    SUMMARY OF BILL

                                                                                     REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

Senate Bill 539 (as reported without amendment)

Sponsor:  Senator John Bizon, M.D.

Committee:  Families, Seniors and Veterans

CONTENT

The bill would amend the child care licensing Act to do the following:

-- Require a child care organization to perform a criminal history background check on a person using the Department of State Police's (MSP) internet criminal history access tool (ICHAT) or equivalent check before making an offer of conditional employment.

-- Prohibit a child caring institution subject to Federal law from permitting a child care institution staff member to begin working unless certain requirements pertaining to a criminal history check were met.

-- Specify that a staff member of a child caring institution who had previously undergone a criminal history check and had remained continuously employed with the institution would not have to submit to another criminal history check if the institution were applying to renew its license.

The bill is tie-barred to Senate Bills 466-469, which together would govern "qualified residential treatment programs" in the State.

MCL 722.115d & 722.115k                                        Legislative Analyst:  Tyler VanHuyse

FISCAL IMPACT

To the extent that there was an increase in the number of criminal history checks collected and processed, the bill could lead to increases in administrative cost in the Department of Health and Human Services. The increase would be associated with process changes to ensure that child care institutions complied with the background check standard, and with processing increased requests for checks with the MSP and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. There would be no fiscal impact on local government.

Date Completed:  10-3-19                                                  Fiscal Analyst:  John Maxwell

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.