[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4244 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4244

To establish a national center on volunteer screening to reduce sexual 
                      and other abuse of children.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 11, 2000

   Mr. Lewis of Georgia (for himself, Mr. Davis of Virginia, and Ms. 
Jackson-Lee of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined 
 by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as 
        fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish a national center on volunteer screening to reduce sexual 
                      and other abuse of children.

    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 ``National Child Protection Volunteer 
Screening Assistance Act of 2000''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL CENTER ON VOLUNTEER SCREENING.

    The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (42 
U.S.C. 5601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

           ``TITLE VI--NATIONAL CENTER ON VOLUNTEER SCREENING

``SEC. 601. SHORT TITLE.

    ``This title may be cited as the `National Child Protection 
Volunteer Screening Assistance Act'.

``SEC. 602. FINDINGS.

    ``Congress finds the following:
            ``(1) More than 87,000,000 children are involved each year 
        in activities provided by child and youth organizations which 
        depend heavily on volunteers to deliver services through such 
        activities.
            ``(2) The vast majority of activities provided to children 
        by public and nonprofit private agencies and organizations 
        result in the delivery of much needed services in safe 
        environments that could not be provided without the assistance 
        of virtually millions of volunteers, but abuses of children do 
        occur.
            ``(3) Estimates of the incidence of child sexual abuse in 
        child care settings, foster care homes, and schools range from 
        1 to 7 percent.
            ``(4) Although the incidence of child abuse may be 
        relatively small, abuse traumatizes the victims and shakes 
        public trust in care providers and organizations serving 
        vulnerable populations.
            ``(5) Congress addressed concerns about this type of abuse 
        by enacting the National Child Protection Act of 1993 and the 
        Violent Crime Control Act of 1994, to set forth a framework 
        through which States could authorize screening through criminal 
        record checks of care providers, including volunteers who work 
        with children, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities, 
        but problems regarding the safety of children remain.
            ``(6) While State screening alone is sometimes adequate to 
        conduct volunteer background checks, more extensive national 
        criminal history checks using fingerprints are often advisable, 
        especially when a prospective volunteer may have lived in more 
        than 1 State.
            ``(7) The high cost for fingerprint background checks is 
        unaffordable for organizations that use a large number of 
        volunteers and, if such cost is passed on to volunteers, often 
        discourages their participation.
            ``(8) The current system of retrieving national criminal 
        background information on volunteers through an authorized 
        agency of the State is cumbersome and often requires months 
        before vital results are returned.
            ``(9) In order to protect children, volunteer agencies must 
        currently depend on a convoluted, disconnected, and sometimes 
        duplicative series of checks that leave children at risk.
            ``(10) A national volunteer screening center is needed to 
        protect children by providing effective, efficient, and no-cost 
        national criminal history background checks of volunteers who 
        provide care through public and nonprofit private agencies and 
        organizations.

``SEC. 603. DEFINITIONS.

    ``For purposes of this title:
            ``(1) Public or nonprofit private qualified entity.--The 
        term `public or nonprofit private qualified entity' means an 
        agency or organization, whether public or nonprofit, that 
        provides care placement services, including an organization 
        that licenses or certifies others to provide care placement 
        services.
            ``(2) Volunteer provider.--The term `volunteer provider' 
        means an individual who provides or seeks to provide services 
        as a volunteer to a public or nonprofit private qualified 
        entity.
            ``(3) National criminal background check system.--The term 
        `national criminal background check system' means the criminal 
        history record system maintained by the Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation based on fingerprint identification or any other 
        method of positive identification.
            ``(4) Child.--The term `child' has the meaning given such 
        term in section 5(2) of the Child Protection Act of 1993.
            ``(5) State.--The term `State' has the meaning given such 
        term in section 5(11) of the Child Protection Act of 1993.

``SEC. 604. ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL CENTER FOR VOLUNTEER SCREENING.

    ``The Attorney General, by making a grant to or a contract with a 
public agency or a nonprofit national organization, shall--
            ``(1) establish a national center for volunteer screening 
        designed--
                    ``(A) to serve as a point of contact for public and 
                nonprofit private qualified entities to request a 
                nationwide background check for the purpose of 
                determining whether a volunteer provider has been 
                convicted of a crime that bears upon the provider's 
                fitness to have responsibilities for the safety and 
                well-being of children;
                    ``(B) to access and to review, either directly or 
                indirectly, State and Federal criminal history records 
                and registries through the national criminal history 
                background check system, and any other appropriate 
                system of criminal history information at no cost to 
                the public or nonprofit private qualified entity or to 
                the volunteer provider, on an expedited basis under 
                guidelines conforming to section 3(b) of the Child 
                Protection Act of 1993;
                    ``(C) to provide criminal background check results 
                to the public or nonprofit private qualified entity 
                requesting a nationwide background within no more than 
                15 business days; and
                    ``(D) to serve as a national resource center and 
                clearinghouse to provide State and local governments, 
                public and nonprofit private agencies, and individuals 
                with information regarding volunteer screening; and
            ``(2) establish a National Volunteer Screening Task Force 
        to be chaired by the Attorney General, which shall--
                    ``(A) be composed of--
                            ``(i) 2 employees of the Department of 
                        Justice appointed by the Attorney General;
                            ``(ii) 2 employees of the Department of 
                        Health and Human Services appointed by the 
                        Secretary of Health and Human Services;
                            ``(iii) 2 employees of the Federal Bureau 
                        of Investigation appointed by the Director of 
                        the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and
                            ``(iv) 6 members of national organizations 
                        that represent nonprofit private qualified 
                        entities that use volunteer providers to serve 
                        children; and
                    ``(B) oversee the work of the national center for 
                volunteer screening and report at least annually to the 
                President and the Congress with regard to the work of 
                such center for volunteer screening and the progress of 
                the States in complying with the Child Protection Act 
                of 1993.

``SEC. 605. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this title 
$80,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 and such sums as may be necessary for 
fiscal years 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005.''.
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