Criminal Justice Department issues bulletin on civil fingerprinting

The Department of Criminal Justice has issued an informational bulletin about the new law that permits municipal officials to conduct fingerprint-based state and national criminal history records checks on license applicants.

On Aug. 6, the governor signed Chapter 256 of the Acts of 2010, An Act Reforming the Administrative Procedures Relative to Criminal Offender Record Information and Pre- and Post-Trial Supervised Release.

Section 23 of this new law, which takes effect on May 4, 2012, adds Chapter 6, Section 172B ½, to state law; under this section, municipalities may enact bylaws or ordinances to require state and national criminal history record checks of applicants for licenses in specified occupations.

Municipalities may, by local bylaw or ordinance, require applicants for licenses in specified occupations to submit a full set of fingerprints for the purpose of conducting a state and national criminal history records check pursuant to sections 168 and 172 as well as 28 U.S.C. §534. Fingerprint submissions may be submitted by the licensing authority to the identification unit within the Department of State Police through the Criminal History Systems Board or its successor for a state criminal records check, and to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a state and national criminal records check.

Municipalities may, by local bylaw or ordinance, establish the appropriate fee charged to applicants for administering a fingerprinting system. For the purposes of Section 2LLL of Chapter 29, $30 of the fee shall be deposited into the Firearms Fingerprint Identity Verification Trust Fund and the remainder of the fee may be retained by the licensing authority for costs associated with the administration of the system.

The Department of Criminal Justice’s informational bulletin covers the requirements for a municipal bylaw or ordinance that authorizes fingerprint-based state and national criminal history records checks on municipal license applicants.

Municipal officials are not to deny an applicant the license based on information in the record until the applicant has been afforded a reasonable time to correct or complete any information or has declined to do so.

The state and national criminal history check results may only be used for the purpose requested, that is, screening for specific licenses.

A state and national criminal history records background check for civil licensing purposes may only be conducted based on a fingerprint check as authorized by a municipal ordinance and may not be conducted based on name and date of birth.

A federal background check may not be conducted for municipal employment applicants unless such employment involves a position requiring a license issued by the municipality.

All municipal entities that conduct fingerprint-based state and national criminal history checks will be subject to audit by the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services.

Each municipal entity will be required to develop and maintain written policies and procedures for its fingerprint-based national criminal history records check system.

Once a bylaw or ordinance for civil fingerprinting has passed, the municipality should contact the commanding officer of the Massachusetts State Police Department’s State Identification Section, at 59 Horse Pond Road, Sudbury, MA 01776 or (508) 358-3170.

Additionally, a copy of the ordinance or bylaw must be emailed to the DCJIS at dcjisprints@state.ma.us. The State Identification Section will respond with detailed instructions and the next steps required for implementing a state and nation criminal history record check system.

Municipalities are not allowed to submit any state or national fingerprint checks until they are authorized by the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services and the State Identification Section. These agencies will publish guidelines and detailed processes prior to commencement of this program.

Federal law prohibits police departments from conducting name and date-of-birth national criminal history record checks for non-criminal justice purposes (i.e., licensing).

All proposed local bylaws or ordinances must be approved by the Municipal Law Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

• Download the civil fingerprinting information bulletin (496K PDF)