You asked that we identify all occupations, persons, or other entities for which criminal history background checks are required by statute. You also wanted to know who is responsible for the criminal history checks and what procedures must be followed. Finally, you wanted us to identify whether the subjects of these checks may be employed or licensed before the check has been completed.

SUMMARY

Criminal history check requirements are spread throughout the statutes (and in some state agency regulations) and cover a wide range of individuals, license and permit holders, and businesses. Among the many individuals required to undergo criminal history checks are public school employees and school nurses, police officers, bail bondsmen and bail enforcement agents, private investigators, state marshals, locksmiths, pawnbrokers and precious metals dealers (at local option), and coaches with direct contact with children in police-sponsored athletic activities.

Criminal history checks are also required for applicants for nursing home licenses, various types of gaming related licenses, detective and security service licenses, taxicab company certificates, and at the discretion of the Department of Banking (DOB), various entities in the financial services industry. There are also numerous instances in the social services area where criminal history checks are required.

In addition to these many types of individuals and businesses, the laws require criminal history checks for prospective employees of several state agencies including the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Department of Children and Families (DCF), Division of Special Revenue (DSR), and Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), as well as employees in the vital records unit of the Department of Public Health (DPH), Department of Correction (DOC) employees who have direct contact with inmates, and Department of Developmental Services (DDS) employees who provide direct client care. The DMHAS requirements also apply to volunteers.

The law requires anyone applying to DMV for a driver's license endorsement necessary to carry passengers, such as for school buses and other forms of student transportation, taxis, livery service vehicles, and motor buses to provide satisfactory evidence of the absence of a criminal record. Although the law explicitly requires that a criminal history records check be conducted only for school bus and student transportation vehicle drivers, all applicants for passenger endorsements of any type must, in fact, submit to a criminal record check.

The same is true for applicants for various types of liquor permits issued by the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP). The law (CGS § 30-39) does not explicitly require that an applicant submit to a criminal history records check, but an applicant must indicate any prior criminal convictions on the application. While there is no explicit statutory language requiring applicants to submit to a criminal history check as there is in many other areas, the authority for DCP to conduct a criminal history check appears to be implied in DCP's administrative duty to determine the accuracy of the statement made on the application.

Finally, we note that many appointees for positions such as judges, family support magistrates, and Board of Pardons and Paroles members likely undergo criminal history checks before their appointment, but it is not specified in statute.

CRIMINAL HISTORY CHECKS SPECIFICALLY REQUIRED BY STATUTE OR AGENCY REGULATION

Table 1 shows the various types of employees, occupations, or business entities for which either specific statutes or agency regulations require criminal history checks, the cite for the requirement, the entity

responsible for having the check performed, and, to the extent this could be determined from the language of the statute or regulation, whether the person can be provisionally hired or licensed before the check results are complete.

Table 1: Criminal History Check Requirements

LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL

The regulations of the Police Officer Standards and Training Council require, as a condition of appointment to a position of probationary candidate in a law enforcement unit in the state, that the candidate has been fingerprinted and that the fingerprints are submitted for a state and national criminal history check. The requirement applies even if the candidate is already employed by another law enforcement unit (Conn. Agencies. Regs. § 7-294e-16). Under state law (CGS § 7-294a), a law enforcement unit is any agency, organ, or department of the state or any of its subdivisions or municipalities whose primary functions include the: (1) enforcement of criminal or traffic laws; (2) preservation of public order; (3) protection of life and property; or (4) prevention, detection, or investigation of crime. This includes police officers, constables, special policemen appointed under several specific statutes, motor vehicle department inspectors designated to enforce motor vehicle laws, and others.

DOT-REGULATED TRANSPORTATION BUSINESSES

As shown above, the law explicitly requires applicants for a DOT certificate to operate a taxi company to submit to a state and national criminal history check. However, DOT also regulates several other for-hire transportation businesses including intrastate household goods movers, motor vehicles in livery service, and motor bus companies. As part of the administrative process for issuing the necessary certificate to operate, DOT requires submission of a criminal conviction history report on all corporate officers, limited company members, sole proprietors, partners, or anyone holding 10% or more of stock in the corporation. While this is part of the suitability determination for all of these business licensees, only applicants for taxicab operating certificates are explicitly required by the statutes to submit to criminal history checks.

LIQUOR PERMIT APPLICANTS AND PERMIT BACKERS

A state law generally permits denial of employment by the state or any of its agencies or of any license, permit, certificate, or registration to pursue, practice, or engage in an occupation, trade, vocation, profession, or business by reason of the prior conviction of a crime after consideration of (1) the nature of the crime and its relationship to the job applied for, (2) information regarding the degree of the applicant's rehabilitation, and (3) the elapsed time since conviction or release (CGS § 46a-80). DCP invokes this law when considering the suitability of applicants for various types of liquor-related permits it issues.

The law requires the application to “indicate any crimes of which the applicant or the applicant's backer may have been convicted” (CGS § 30-39). The application indicates that “in the event the investigation of your application reveals a felony conviction, you will be required to complete the Criminal Conviction Worksheet.” This worksheet requires submission of various types of documentation providing the information necessary to satisfy the review requirements of CGS § 46a-80. While there is no explicit statement of DCP authority to require a criminal history check, there seems to be implied authority to do so as part of the application investigation.

CRIMINAL HISTORY CHECK PROCESS

The process for conducting criminal history records checks was standardized in 2001. This process is codified as CGS § 29-17a. Many of the statutes that explicitly required submission to a criminal history check were amended by the legislation to refer to this codified procedure. The provision states, “If a criminal history check is required pursuant to any provision of the general statutes, such check shall be requested from the State Police Bureau of Identification and shall be applicable to the individual identified in the request.” It establishes a procedure under which the party requesting the check must arrange for fingerprinting the person and for conducting any other method of positive identification (such as a date of birth) the state police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) require, if a national history check is required. The requestor must forward the fingerprints and other information to the state police for the state check and the state police submit the information to the FBI for the national check.

Under the regulations applying to unlicensed day care providers under Care4Kids program, DSS sends a fingerprint package to the provider. If the provider does not return the package, it is dropped from the program. Providers must complete cards, obtain fingerprints, and return them with the FBI fee to DSS, which forwards them to DPS.

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