FINAL BILL REPORT

                   SB 5330

                           C 29 L 95

                      Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Regulating background checks.

Sponsors:  Senators Smith and Franklin; by request of Washington State Patrol.

Senate Committee on Law & Justice

House Committee on Law & Justice

Background:  When a person is applying for employment in which the prospective employee will have unsupervised contact with children or vulnerable adults, the business or organization may, and in some cases must, request a background check of the applicant's criminal record from the Washington State Patrol (WSP).  WSP is required to send a copy of the result to both the employer and the applicant.

Approximately 160,000 requests for background checks are sent to the WSP annually.  Of these, around 95 percent reveal no criminal record.  Under current procedure, notification is sent only to the employer when the applicant has no criminal record.

Summary:  After performing a background check of an applicant for employment, the Washington State Patrol is only required to send notice to the employer if the check indicates that there is no evidence that the applicant has a criminal record.  The employer must send a copy of the notice to the applicant.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate    47 0

House     97 0

Effective:  July 23, 1995