Rep. Andrea White Champions Effort to Align, Modernize Background Check Process in Ohio

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) - State Representative Andrea White (R-Kettering), along with Attorney General Dave Yost and representatives of several partners from Ohio's criminal justice system, today held a press conference to announce new legislation that works to modernize and align fingerprinting and disposition reporting to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).

The legislation centers around the key roles that courts, clerks of court, prosecutors, law enforcement and detention facilities each play in the criminal background check system. These entities are responsible for providing criminal background records related to an individual's offense, fingerprints and disposition to the Office of Ohio Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI). As a result of years of stakeholder input regarding needed improvements to the process, the bill makes a variety of updates to ensure that the background check system in Ohio is more streamlined, efficient and timely - promoting public safety and creating a swifter path to employment for those seeking a job.

"Above all, this is about public safety and jobs. This legislation will strengthen, modernize and improve the integrity of Ohio's criminal identification system - the highway on which all of our background checks for jobs, professional licenses, criminal investigations and firearms purchases run," said Rep. White. "Unfortunately, criminals haven't stopped. So just as law enforcement practices and court procedures have evolved, so must the criminal identification system evolve so that we have the best tools, processes and information to fight crime and keep our communities safe."

"At the same time, we need a background check system that provides employers and job seekers quicker access to up-to-date information and opportunities," Rep. White said. "By partnering together across the criminal justice system, we are making critical improvements and leveraging technology to improve the safety and security of our communities."

The bill makes multiple updates to fingerprinting and disposition reporting through the state's criminal identification system - the Computerized Criminal History (CCH) - including:

• Modernizing reporting systems to improve efficiency and accuracy by requiring electronic transmission of fingerprints and disposition reports by courts, law enforcement and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (ODRC).
• Aligning fingerprinting and reporting requirements by standardizing the offenses that law enforcement and courts must ensure are fingerprinted, and clerks of courts must report case dispositions for to BCI, with the Attorney General providing a uniform reportable offenses guide for courts, law enforcement, and clerks.
• Streamlining mental health adjudication reporting by designating probate judges as the sole reporters to BCI for civil commitment adjudications related to mental illness.
• Ensuring outcomes of arrests without charges, or where cases are sent directly to a grand jury and no charges are filed, are consistently reported back to BCI to eliminate unnecessary delays when individuals request background checks.
• Ensuring accurate criminal records are maintained by clarifying incarcerated individuals must be re-fingerprinted for new charges that are filed when incidents occur during incarceration, including ensuring fingerprints have been completed for individuals awaiting hearings or sentenced remotely, with prints transmitted to BCI and the appropriate court clerk.

"If everybody owns something, then no one is responsible. This bill tightens up responsibilities so there's accountability for fingerprinting and reporting dispositions," said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

The press conference also included a variety of stakeholders, including clerks of court, law enforcement officials and experts from the Ohio Attorney General's Office - all of whom worked along with judges from all levels of the judiciary and prosecutors to strengthen the bill in an effort to streamline the fingerprinting and disposition reporting process in Ohio.

To watch today's press conference, click here.