Sponsors (11)
Requires the FBI to provide criminal history records to state licensing authorities for interstate compact background checks and restricts re-sharing of those records.
Official title: Authorize the use of Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history record information for administration of certain licenses.
Introduced March 25, 2025 by Peter Welch · Last progress March 25, 2025
The bill speeds and standardizes interstate licensure checks while limiting exposure of detailed FBI records to protect privacy, but it raises risks that FBI findings could delay or deny applicants, reduces transparency for appeals, and creates administrative costs for states.
State licensing authorities and professionals seeking multistate licenses can obtain FBI interstate criminal-history checks, speeding and standardizing licensure decisions across States.
Applicants' sensitive records are better protected because Member State licensing authorities are prohibited from sharing detailed FBI criminal-history records with compact commissions, other States, or the public, and compact commissions receive only a binary completion/result — enabling necessary administrative functions without exposing raw records.
Applicants for multistate licenses may be subject to federal criminal-history queries that reveal arrests or dispositions, which could delay or block licensure across States.
Limiting information to a binary satisfactory/unsatisfactory result reduces transparency for applicants and may impede their ability to access, contest, or appeal the detailed FBI records used to deny privileges.
State agencies and licensing authorities will incur administrative and compliance costs to implement agreements with law enforcement bureaus and to safeguard against prohibited disclosures.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the FBI Director to provide criminal history record information (CHRI) to State licensing authorities — via a State law enforcement agency or State Identification Bureau — when needed to meet an interstate compact’s criminal-history background-check requirement for licensure or compact-issued privileges. It defines key terms, forbids member State licensing authorities from re-sharing the CHRI with the compact commission, other state entities, or the public, and allows only a binary satisfactory/unsatisfactory notification to the compact commission confirming completion of the background check.