Sponsors (5)
The bill increases safety by expanding background checks for more adults who work with children and qualified organizations and promotes consistent implementation, but it raises privacy concerns and imposes additional costs and hiring burdens on workers and organizations.
Children and youth are safer because more adults working for contractors and licensees who interact with them will be subject to background checks, reducing the chance that disqualifying individuals are placed in roles around minors.
Schools and other qualified organizations get stronger staff and affiliate screening, lowering the risk of hiring individuals with disqualifying records and improving safety and trust in education and nonprofit settings.
Qualified entities and contractors benefit from an expanded scope of required background checks without creating a new federal program, which should improve consistency of implementation and reduce fragmentation across entities.
Many applicants, workers, and volunteers (including those seeking licensure or employment with contractors) will face new privacy exposure and scrutiny because they will be newly subject to background checks.
Local governments, nonprofits, and small businesses will incur additional administrative and compliance costs to conduct the expanded background checks, increasing operating expenses.
Workers and volunteers may face extra screening burdens and potential delays in hiring or credentialing, creating obstacles to employment and volunteer placement for small organizations.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Expands the child-protection background-check definition to include people employed by or contracting with qualified entities and those licensed/certified by them.
Introduced April 30, 2025 by Russell Fry · Last progress April 30, 2025
Expands who is covered by federally authorized child-protection background checks by broadening the statutory definition used for checks under the National Child Protection Act. The change adds people who are employed by, volunteer with, or seek employment/volunteer roles at entities that contract with qualified entities, and it also adds people who are licensed or certified (or seeking licensure/certification) by a qualified entity. The amendment only revises the definition language used for background checks; it does not itself appropriate new funding or create new programs. Organizations that contract with or certify/license workers for qualified entities may see more people become subject to checks and may face additional administrative steps to comply.