Bill Text: IL HB4501 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Child Care Act of 1969. Provides that a criminal background investigation for a person subject to background check shall include specified information. Provides that, notwithstanding any federal law that prohibits conditional employment prior to completed background checks, an individual hired to begin employment who has authorized the required background check may be employed by a child care facility on a conditional basis pending the outcome of the required background check. Provides that the form authorizing the background check shall be submitted to the Department of Children and Family Services. Provides that the individual shall also submit to the Department an attestation, under penalty of perjury, disclosing: (1) any abuse or neglect complaints made against the individual with the child welfare agency of a state other than Illinois in which the individual resided within the 5 years preceding the date of the attestation; and (2) any contact the individual had with a law enforcement agency in connection with the individual's suspected or alleged commission of a crime in a state other than Illinois in which the individual resided within the 5 years preceding the date of the attestation. Provides that a conditional employee shall not be left alone with children outside the visual and auditory supervision of staff until the conditional employee has cleared all required background checks. Defines "persons subject to background check".

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-31 - Referred to Rules Committee [HB4501 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB4501-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 HB4501 Introduced , by Rep. Joyce Mason SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
225 ILCS 10/4.1 from Ch. 23, par. 2214.1
Amends the Child Care Act of 1969. Provides that a criminal background investigation for a person subject to background check shall include specified information. Provides that, notwithstanding any federal law that prohibits conditional employment prior to completed background checks, an individual hired to begin employment who has authorized the required background check may be employed by a child care facility on a conditional basis pending the outcome of the required background check. Provides that the form authorizing the background check shall be submitted to the Department of Children and Family Services. Provides that the individual shall also submit to the Department an attestation, under penalty of perjury, disclosing: (1) any abuse or neglect complaints made against the individual with the child welfare agency of a state other than Illinois in which the individual resided within the 5 years preceding the date of the attestation; and (2) any contact the individual had with a law enforcement agency in connection with the individual's suspected or alleged commission of a crime in a state other than Illinois in which the individual resided within the 5 years preceding the date of the attestation. Provides that a conditional employee shall not be left alone with children outside the visual and auditory supervision of staff until the conditional employee has cleared all required background checks. Defines "persons subject to background check".
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning regulation.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Child Care Act of 1969 is amended by
changing Section 4.1 as follows:
(225 ILCS 10/4.1) (from Ch. 23, par. 2214.1)
Sec. 4.1. Criminal background investigations.
(a) As used in this Section, "person subject to background
check" means:
(1) an operator of the child care facility;
(2) any current and conditional employee of the child
care facility;
(3) any person who is used to replace or supplement
staff;
(4) any person who has access to children as defined
in 89 Ill. Adm. Code 385.20;
(5) any person, including a non-licensed service
provider, who provides services that allow unsupervised
access to children if the requirement for background
checks is a condition of a contract or agreement or is
required otherwise under a contract or agreement; and
(6) any volunteer who has unsupervised contact with
children.

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"Person subject to background check" does not include an
employee of a child care facility that receives funds under
Title IV-E of the Social Security Act.
(b) The Department shall require that each person subject
to background check child care facility license applicant as
part of the application process, and each employee and
volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service
provider, as a condition of employment, authorizes authorize
an investigation to determine if such person subject to
background check applicant, employee, or volunteer has ever
been charged with a crime and if so, the disposition of those
charges; this authorization shall indicate the scope of the
inquiry and the agencies which may be contacted. Upon this
authorization, the Director shall request and receive
information and assistance from any federal, State or local
governmental agency as part of the authorized investigation.
Each person subject to background check applicant, employee,
or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service
provider shall submit the person subject to background check's
applicant's, employee's, or volunteer's fingerprints to the
Illinois State Police in the form and manner prescribed by the
Illinois State Police. These fingerprints shall be checked
against the fingerprint records now and hereafter filed in the
Illinois State Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation
criminal history records databases. The Illinois State Police
shall charge a fee for conducting the criminal history records

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check, which shall be deposited in the State Police Services
Fund and shall not exceed the actual cost of the records check.
The Illinois State Police shall provide information concerning
any criminal charges, and their disposition, now or hereafter
filed, against a person subject to background check an
applicant, employee, or volunteer of a child care facility or
non-licensed service provider upon request of the Department
of Children and Family Services when the request is made in the
form and manner required by the Illinois State Police.
(c) A criminal background investigation for a person
subject to background check under subsection (b) shall
include:
(1) a Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint
check using Next Generation Identification;
(2) a search of the National Crime Information
Center's National Sex Offender Registry; and
(3) a search of the following registries,
repositories, or databases in this State and each state
where the person subject to background check resided
during the preceding 5 years:
(A) the criminal registry or repository, with the
use of fingerprints being:
(i) required in this State;
(ii) optional in other states;
(B) the sex offender registry or repository; and
(C) the child abuse and neglect registry and

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database.
(d) Information concerning convictions of a person subject
to background check license applicant, employee, or volunteer
of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider
investigated under this Section, including the source of the
information and any conclusions or recommendations derived
from the information, shall be provided, upon request, to such
person subject to background check applicant, employee, or
volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service
provider prior to final action by the Department on the
application. State conviction information provided by the
Illinois State Police regarding persons subject to background
check employees, prospective employees, or volunteers of
non-licensed service providers and child care facilities
licensed under this Act shall be provided to the operator of
such facility, and, upon request, to the person subject to
background check employee, prospective employee, or volunteer
of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider. Any
information concerning criminal charges and the disposition of
such charges obtained by the Department shall be confidential
and may not be transmitted outside the Department, except as
required herein, and may not be transmitted to anyone within
the Department except as needed for the purpose of evaluating
a person subject to background check an application or an
employee or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed
service provider. Only information and standards which bear a

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reasonable and rational relation to the performance of a child
care facility shall be used by the Department or any licensee.
Any employee of the Department of Children and Family
Services, Illinois State Police, or a child care facility
receiving confidential information under this Section who
gives or causes to be given any confidential information
concerning any criminal convictions of a person subject to
background check an applicant, employee, or volunteer of a
child care facility or non-licensed service provider, shall be
guilty of a Class A misdemeanor unless release of such
information is authorized by this Section.
(e) Notwithstanding any federal law that prohibits
conditional employment prior to completed background checks,
an individual hired to begin employment who has authorized the
background check required by this Section may be employed by a
child care facility on a conditional basis pending the outcome
of the required background check. The form authorizing the
background check shall be submitted to the Department. The
individual shall also submit to the Department an attestation,
under penalty of perjury, disclosing: (1) any abuse or neglect
complaints made against the individual with the child welfare
agency of a state other than Illinois in which the individual
resided within the 5 years preceding the date of the
attestation; and (2) any contact the individual had with a law
enforcement agency in connection with the individual's
suspected or alleged commission of a crime in a state other

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