[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 172 (Tuesday, December 21, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H8801-H8802]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       PROTECTING STUDENTS FROM SEXUAL AND VIOLENT PREDATORS ACT

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the 
rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6547) to amend the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require criminal background checks 
for school employees.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 6547

       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 at 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 that receives funds 
     under this Act shall have in effect policies and procedures 
     that--
       ``(1) require that criminal background checks be conducted 
     for school employees 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 such 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 such school employee 
     previously resided;
       ``(C) a search of the National Crime Information Center of 
     the Department of Justice;
       ``(D) a Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint check 
     using the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification 
     System; and
       ``(E) 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 school employees for a 
     position as a school employee if such individual--
       ``(A) refuses to consent to the criminal background check 
     described in 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 the past 5 years; 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 under this section that an 
     individual who has applied for employment with such agency as 
     a school employee is a sexual predator report to local law 
     enforcement that such individual has so applied;
       ``(4) require that the criminal background checks described 
     in paragraph (1) be periodically repeated; and
       ``(5) provide for a timely process by which a school 
     employee may appeal the results of a criminal background 
     check conducted under this section to challenge the accuracy 
     or completeness of the information produced by such 
     background check and seek appropriate relief for any final 
     employment decision based on materially inaccurate or 
     incomplete information produced by such background check, but 
     that does not permit the school employee to be employed as a 
     school employee during such process.
       ``(b) 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 exposure 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 exposure 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.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. George Miller) and the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. 
Biggert) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I request 5 
legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert 
extraneous material on H.R. 6547 into the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of all children in our country. 
I rise for all parents who send their children to school with the 
understanding that their children will be safe.
  Last week, the Committee on Education and Labor released a 
disturbing, outrageous report from the Government Accountability Office 
highlighting cases where convicted sexual offenders were working at 
schools. In 11 of the 15 cases, sexual offenders who were hired or 
retained by schools had previously targeted children, and in six of 
those cases, the sex offenders used their job to target and abuse more 
children, and this is unacceptable.
  This report is frightening insight into what happens when rules 
aren't followed or simply aren't in place. It showed that in many cases 
comprehensive background checks could have easily prevented these 
crimes from occurring. It also showed that some school districts 
knowingly passed on a potential predator to another school district, 
allowing the offender to resign instead of reporting him or her. It is 
outrageous that a sexual or violent predator of children can be passed 
from school to school.
  The Government Accountability Office found that school systems either 
did not have complete information or, perhaps worse, chose to ignore 
the problem or to make it worse by providing positive recommendations 
about the employee, knowing that they had abused children in their 
care. In many places, the current system of ensuring our students' 
safety is broken. It has huge gaps that are allowing our children to be 
vulnerable to sexual predators.
  Madam Speaker, this Congress can do more to protect our children. The 
Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act will help 
keep our

[[Page H8802]]

children safe in school by requiring States to take commonsense steps. 
First, schools will be required to comprehensively conduct background 
checks for any employees using State criminal and child abuse 
registries and the FBI's fingerprint database.
  Second, schools will be prohibited from hiring or retaining anyone 
who has been convicted of certain violent crimes, including crimes 
against children, crimes involving rape or sexual assault, and child 
pornography.
  This bill will prevent more children from being put in unsafe 
environments because the adults who are responsible for their well-
being failed to do their jobs.
  A 2004 Department of Education report estimated that millions of 
students are subjected to sexual misconduct by school employees at some 
time between kindergarten and the 12th grade. Coupled with the findings 
of last week's GAO report, it is very clear that this legislation is 
absolutely critical. Parents have a right to believe that their 
children are safe in schools, and schools have an obligation to fulfill 
that promise.
  This bill is only part of the solution, but it is an important step 
forward. The GAO report sent shock waves through households across the 
country. We owe it to parents and to the children and to the honorable 
school officials who follow the rules to pass this legislation. We also 
owe it to them to send a strong message that people who abuse children 
or do not do their jobs to keep children safe will face serious 
consequences.
  I hope that the next Congress will be able to take an even more 
comprehensive approach to protect children in our schools, and I urge 
all of my colleagues to support this legislation.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. BIGGERT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise today to support H.R. 6547, a bill to require background 
checks for all public school employees. H.R. 6547 is designed to ensure 
States using Federal taxpayer resources to fund education are taking 
the necessary steps to ensure individuals with a history of criminal 
behavior are not able to slip through the cracks and be placed in 
positions of trust within our schools.
  The bill requires States to have policies in place to conduct a check 
of the State criminal registry, a State-based registry of child abuse 
and neglect, the National Crime Information Center, an FBI fingerprint 
check, and a search of the National Sex Offender Registry on all public 
school employees in order to receive Federal funds under the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act. The State-based checks must also be run 
for all States where an employee or prospective employee had previously 
resided.
  Every Member of this Chamber wants to protect students from harm, and 
there is no excuse for schools not doing everything they can to ensure 
the safety of children in their care.

                              {time}  1110

  In fact, Congress has already acted on this issue by ensuring schools 
have access to national background checks in the Safe Schools Act, 
which was signed into law as part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection 
and Safety Act of 2006. This was a bill that was worked on in a 
bipartisan manner and passed by voice vote in both Chambers.
  Unfortunately, the majority has chosen a different approach with the 
bill before us today. Instead of holding hearings or scheduling a 
markup to thoroughly discuss and vet this issue, they are rushing this 
bill to the floor for quick consideration at the end of Congress. This 
is not the best way to craft thoughtful legislation. But, despite our 
concerns about legislative process, we all agree that our students must 
be protected from sexual predators in their schools. And, therefore, I 
urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I would quickly say 
that I would like to thank the gentlelady from Illinois for her 
cooperation on this. I know this isn't the best process, but at the end 
of the session, having the Government Accountability Office report land 
on our desk on our watch, I felt it was important that we pass this 
legislation today to clearly send a very strong message to school 
districts across the country that they have to meet their 
responsibility to keep our children safe during school hours. I urge my 
colleagues to support this legislation.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong 
support of the H.R. 6547, ``Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent 
Predators Act.'' The Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent 
Predators Act amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
to require each state receiving funds under that Act to have in effect 
policies and procedures that: (1) require criminal background checks 
for school employees, including searches of state criminal registries 
or repositories, state-based child abuse and neglect registries and 
databases, the National Crime Information Center of the Department of 
Justice, the National Sex Offender Registry, and the Integrated 
Automated Fingerprint Identification System of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation (FBI); and (2) prohibit the employment of school 
employees who refuse to consent to a criminal background check, make 
false statements in connection with one, or have been convicted of one 
of a list of felonies.
  H.R. 6547 requires local educational agencies (LEAs) or state 
educational agencies (SEAs) to report to local law enforcement any 
applicants for school employment who are discovered to be sexual 
predators. This legislation requires periodic repetitions of such 
criminal background checks. It further requires such states to provide 
for a timely process under which school employees may: (1) appeal the 
results of a criminal background check to challenge the accuracy or 
completeness of the information produced; and (2) seek appropriate 
relief for any final employment decision based on materially inaccurate 
or incomplete information produced. H.R. 6547 requires this appeals 
process, however, to deny the individual employment as a school 
employee during the process.
  What makes our Nation great is the belief that every child has the 
right to a quality elementary and secondary education. Children truly 
represent the future of our country. They are our living national 
treasures. Yet they are one of our populations that are least capable 
of protecting themselves. So, it is our duty to do all we can to 
provide them with a safe learning environment, free from the menacing 
threat of sexual and violent predators. This legislation takes a 
positive step toward making safer school environments a reality by 
requiring background checks for school employees and prohibiting 
employment of persons who refuse to submit to a criminal background 
check.
  I have always been a strong advocate of protecting our children from 
sexual predators. I introduced similar legislation in H.R. 288, the 
``Save Our Children: Stop the Predators Against Children DNA Act of 
2009.'' I believe H.R. 6547, which we are privileged to consider now 
will provide an important measure of protection for our children from 
the horrors of sexual and violent predators that we hear about all too 
frequently in the news. Parents should be able to send their children 
to school in the morning and know that they will be safe. Children 
should be able to enjoy their time of innocence and the wonderment of 
learning without worrying that undue harm to come to them or their 
classmates. So, I ask my colleagues to stand with me today and vote in 
favor of the H.R. 6547, ``Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent 
Predators Act.''
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) that the House suspend 
the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6547.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the 
yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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