1.This Act may be cited as the
Electronic Life Safety and Security
Systems Federal Background Check Act of 2011
.
2.Congress finds the following:
(1)The electronic life safety and security
systems industry performs critical security installation and protection for
much of the infrastructure in the United States and provides commercial
buildings, public agencies and residences with alarm and security systems that
are an important part of homeland security and anti-crime and terrorist
prevention.
(2)The electronic life safety and security
systems industry includes central monitoring stations and individual
employer-owned companies and other private sector businesses that install alarm
and security systems in infrastructure of the United States.
(3)Some States do not
provide for any licensing or regulation requirement that includes a State or
Federal background check on employers and employees of the companies involved
in the electronic life safety and security systems industry.
(4)Many employers and employees in the
electronic life safety and security systems industry travel across State lines
to install systems and may or may not be required to undergo Federal background
checks as a condition of employment and in some cases there may be background
check requirements at the State level or duplicated background checks at the
county or city levels.
(5)Many employers and employees in the
electronic life safety and security systems industry have access to public and
private structures and should undergo a Federal background check in order to
protect lives and property.
3.In this Act, the term electronic life
safety and security systems industry means businesses that provide
installation and central monitoring of fire and burglar alarm systems to public
or private entities, including fire alarms, burglar alarms, closed-circuit TV,
biometric systems, access control systems, personal emergency response systems,
and other crime prevention systems.
4.Establishment of
background check
(a)Not later than 180
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall
establish a method to permit employers in the electronic life safety and
security systems installation and monitoring industry to request State and
Federal fingerprint-based background checks, in accordance with the information
contained in appropriate records acquired under section 534 of title 28, United
States Code, and to provide any resulting relevant criminal history record
information in accordance with the goals and standards described in this
Act.
(b)The
method for background checks established under subsection (a)—
(1)shall
allow—
(A)employers to discover if employees or
prospective employees have been convicted of a felony or of an offense
involving dishonesty or false statement or the use of force against the person
of another during the 10-year period before the background check is conducted;
and
(B)employers to obtain a background check of
State and Federal criminal history record information by submitting
fingerprints—
(i)to the Attorney General through the State
criminal history record repository of the State in which the employer is
located; or
(ii)if a State declines to allow access to the
criminal history record repository of the State, in a manner determined by the
Attorney General; and
(2)shall not
duplicate access by an employer regarding an employee working only within 1
State where the State licensing and regulation of that employee already
requires a Federal background check.
(c)The
Attorney General may set reasonable fees to be charged in connection with the
method for background checks established under subsection (a).
(d)The Attorney
General, in establishing the method for background checks under subsection (a),
shall give due consideration to privacy protections and employee rights. Each
employee for whom a background check is provided under this section should have
an effective means provided to seek a correction or dispute the outcome of the
background check.