NASCO Testifies Regarding FBI Background Check Legislation

The National Association of Security Companies (NASCO) recently provided testimony in front of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions of the Committee on Education and Labor of the US House of Representatives regarding "H.R. 2703, Private Security Officer Employment Authorization Act (PSOEAA) of 2007". The act, among other aspects, amends existing law to create a third party clearing house to better facilitate access to FBI Criminal History Records Information (CHRI) checks for security guards in every state. Executive Director Joseph Ricci, CAE, represented the association.

NASCO testimony focused on the importance of these checks, stressing the 85% of the critical infrastructure operated by private firms and the lack of state support for facilitating these checks. NASCO cited problems associated with processing checks in the 10 states that do not license or regulate security, as well as many other states that simply do not have the resources to process and conduct fitness determinations for the nearly two million security guards employed nationwide.

For a copy of Ricci's testimony, click this link. 2008-02-26-JoeRicci.pdf

"Following the passage of the PSOEAA, we had hoped that every state would begin processing background checks for security guards," Ricci testified, "Unfortunately, little has changed since its passage and given public policy and compelling homeland security reasons for this existing law, NASCO is actively pursuing opportunities to increase the facilitation of FBI CHRI checks for security guards through education, dialogue and legislation."

NASCO acknowledged the efforts of Subcommittee Chair Andrews (D-NJ) to improve access to background checks and pledged to work with the Representative and others to improve access and facilitation of background checks and fitness determinations for security guards in every state. Other panelists included:

• Weldon Kennedy, Vice Chairman, Guardsmark, LLC
• Mark deBernardo, Partner, Jackson Lewis, LLP
• Donna Uzzell, Chairwoman, National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact Council
• Floyd Clarke, Member, Board of Managers, Allied Security Holdings

NASCO passed a resolution in the fall 2007 to work with Representative Andrews, his staff, and others to improve access for companies employing security guards to FBI criminal records checks. NASCO has also met with the Department of Justice officials, Subcommittee minority counsel, House Judiciary Committee staffers, state regulatory officials, and others to discuss methods to improve access.

NASCO's testimony cited reports indicating that states such as California, that process FBI CHRI checks for security guards, statistically deny licenses to nearly 12% of all security guard applicants based on the results of the federal checks.

"Using third party channelers to process FBI CHRI checks works for other industries,' testified Ricci, "And while there is no exact model to follow for checking security guards based on varying state regulations and fitness determination criteria, we believe these discussions highlight the issues and importance of the federal criminal records checks, and will lead to improving access by employers of private security guards to FBI CHRI checks as legally granted by the PSOEAA in 2004."