H.B. 181 Enrolled

EDUCATOR BACKGROUND CHECK
AMENDMENTS
2000 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Sponsor: Richard M. Siddoway
AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC EDUCATION; PROVIDING THE CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATIONS AND TECHNICAL SERVICES DIVISION MAINTAIN A SEPARATE
FINGERPRINTS FILE FOR APPLICANTS APPLYING FOR AN EDUCATOR'S LICENSE;
AND REQUIRING THE DIVISION TO NOTIFY THE STATE OFFICE OF EDUCATION
WHEN NEW ENTRIES ARE MADE AGAINST PERSONS WHOSE FINGERPRINTS ARE IN
THE FILE REGARDING SPECIFIC ALLEGED OFFENSES.
This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
AMENDS:
53A-6-401, as repealed and reenacted by Chapter 108, Laws of Utah 1999
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section 53A-6-401 is amended to read:
53A-6-401. Background checks.
(1) (a) A license applicant shall submit to a background check as a condition for licensing.
(b) As used in this section, licensing includes reinstatement of a lapsed, suspended, or
revoked license.
(2) (a) The office shall establish a procedure for obtaining and evaluating relevant
information concerning license applicants, including fingerprinting the applicant and submitting
the prints to the Criminal Investigations and Technical Services Division of the Department of
Public Safety for checking against applicable state, regional, and national criminal records files.
(b) The Criminal Investigations and Technical Services Division shall release to the office
all information received in response to the office's request.
(c) The Criminal Investigations and Technical Services Division shall maintain a separate
file of fingerprints submitted under Subsection (2)(a) and notify the office when a new entry is
made against a person whose fingerprints are held in the file regarding any matters involving an

alleged:
(i) sexual offense;
(ii) felony or class A misdemeanor drug offense; or
(iii) offense against the person under Title 76, Chapter 5, Offenses Against the Person.
(d) The cost of maintaining the separate file shall be paid by the office from fees charged to
those submitting fingerprints.
(3) An applicant shall have opportunity to respond to any information received by the office
as a result of the background check.
(4) In preparing recommendations concerning licensing for submission to the board, the
office shall consider only the following matters obtained through fingerprint checks to the extent that
they are relevant to the license sought by the applicant:
(a) convictions;
(b) any matters involving an alleged sexual offense;
(c) any matters involving an alleged felony or class A misdemeanor drug offense;
(d) any matters involving an alleged offense against the person under Title 76, Chapter 5;
(e) any matters involving a felony;
(f) any matters involving a class A misdemeanor property offense alleged to have occurred
within the previous three years; and
(g) any matters involving any other type of criminal offense, if more than one occurrence of
the same type of offense is alleged to have taken place within the previous eight years.
(5) If a recommendation is made for denial of licensure because of information obtained
through a background check, the person shall receive written notice of the reasons for the
recommendation and have an opportunity to respond in accordance with procedures set forth under
board rules.
(6) Information obtained under this section is confidential and may only be disclosed as
provided in this part.
(7) The applicant shall pay the costs of conducting the background check.
(8) This section applies to matters occurring both before and after the effective date of this

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section.

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