CHAPTER 214
HB 304 - FINAL VERSION
6jan00.....2190h
4/20/00.....3957s
18may00.....4616-EBA
2000 SESSION
03/09
HOUSE BILL 304
AN ACT relative to school employee and volunteer background investigations.
This bill modifies the crimes that prevent a person from being hired by a school administrative unit, school district, or charter school. This bill also modifies the procedures for criminal history records checks by school administrative units, school districts, and charter schools.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
6jan00.....2190h
4/20/00.....3957s
18may00.....4616-EBA
99-0608
03/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand
AN ACT relative to school employee and volunteer background investigations.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
214:1 Education; School Boards, Transportation and Instruction of Pupils; School Employee and Volunteer Background Investigation; Criminal History Records Information. RSA 189:13-a, II-III is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:
II. The selected applicant for employment or designated volunteer with a school administrative unit, school district, or charter school shall submit to the employer a notarized criminal history records release form, as provided by the division of state police, which authorizes the release of information regarding the presence or absence of any record of convictions of the applicant of felonies or of the crimes listed in paragraph V. The applicant shall submit with the release form a complete set of fingerprints taken by a qualified law enforcement agency or an authorized employee of the school administrative unit, school district, or charter school. In the event that the first set of fingerprints is invalid due to insufficient pattern and a second set of fingerprints is necessary in order to complete the criminal history records check, the conditional offer of employment shall remain in effect. If, after 2 attempts, a set of fingerprints is invalid due to insufficient pattern, the school administrative unit, school district, or charter school may, in lieu of the criminal history records check, accept police clearances from every city, town, or county where an applicant has lived during the past 5 years.
III. The school administrative unit, school district, or charter school shall submit the criminal history records release form to the New Hampshire state police which shall conduct a criminal history records check through its records and through the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Upon completion of the background investigation, the state police shall examine the list of crimes constituting grounds for non-approval of employment, or non-acceptance of volunteer services in that school administrative unit, school district, or charter school, and shall report the presence or absence of any such crime to the school administrative unit, school district, or charter school. Under no circumstances shall the criminal records be released to the school administrative unit, school district, or charter school. The school administrative unit, school district, or charter school shall maintain the confidentiality of all criminal history records information received pursuant to this paragraph. If the criminal history records information indicates no criminal record, the school administrative unit, school district, or charter school shall destroy the information received immediately following its review of the information. If the criminal history records information indicates that the applicant has been convicted of a felony or of a crime listed in paragraph V, the school administrative unit, school district, or charter school shall review the information for a hiring decision, and the division of state police shall notify the department of education of any such convictions. The school administrative unit, school district, or charter school shall destroy any criminal history record information that indicates a criminal record within 30 days of receiving such information.
214:2 Education; School Boards, Transportation and Instruction of Pupils; School Employee and Volunteer Background Investigation; Crimes Changed. Amend RSA 189:13-a, V to read as follows:
V. Any person who has been convicted of [murder, child pornography, aggravated felonious sexual assault, felonious sexual assault, or kidnapping] any violation or attempted violation of RSA 630:1; 630:1-a; 630:1-b; 630:2; 632-A:2; 632-A:3; 632-A:4; 633:1; 639:2; 639:3; 645:1, I(b), II, or III; 645:2; 649-A:3; 649-B:3; or 649-B:4; or any violation or any attempted violation of RSA 650:2 where the act involves a child in material deemed obscene; in this state, or under any statute prohibiting the same conduct in another state, territory, or possession of the United States, shall not be hired by a school administrative unit, school district, or charter school. By decision of the appropriate governing body, a school administrative unit, school district, or charter school may deny a selected applicant a final offer of employment if such person has been convicted of any felony in addition to those listed above. The governing body may adopt a policy stating that any person who has been convicted of any felony, or any of a list of felonies, shall not be hired.
214:3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
(Approved: June 1, 2000)
(Effective Date: July 31, 2000)