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Committee hears bill to give DHHS fuller access to applicants’ criminal records for childcare licensing
Summary
A bill that would let the Department of Health and Human Services receive full FBI criminal-history records, including non‑adjudicated charges, drew agency testimony and questions about limits such as juvenile records and the timing of FBI “snapshots.”
The House Children and Family Law Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 22 on behalf of the bill’s prime sponsor, Sen. John Pearl, with an agency request that would let the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) receive fuller criminal‑history information when licensing child‑care workers.
Melissa Clement, chief of DHHS’s Childcare Licensing Unit, told the committee, “the bill will close the gap so that [the] childcare licensing unit receives full information regarding an individual's criminal record, including criminal charges.” Clement said the department requested the change after identifying cases in which charges were not visible to licensing staff because the system currently only returned records after convictions.
Christine Shea, administrator of the State Police Criminal Records Unit, said the bill would allow the unit to release a full FBI record to DHHS. “We would be able to release the confidential record that is a claim of that a bad act versus a conviction of a bad act,” Shea testified, adding that the unit cannot release juvenile records in New Hampshire.
Committee members asked how the bill interacts with existing federal and state rules. Clement said the five‑year language that some members cited comes from federal Office of Child Care requirements and could not be changed through this bill. Shea and Clement also explained practical limits: an FBI check is a snapshot in time and will not automatically update the department if a pending charge is later dismissed or results in a conviction; a fresh fingerprint submission would be required for any later update.
Representatives pressed on scope. Clement confirmed the bill covers both day‑care programs and residential childcare programs, and Shea confirmed that certain confidential records — such as out‑of‑state cases that were dismissed or no‑prossed — would be visible under the bill’s language, while juvenile records would not be released.
No formal committee vote on SB 22 was recorded in the transcript. The hearing closed after agency witnesses answered questions about process and statutory limits.
The committee’s follow‑up questions focused on implementation details: how often fingerprints are resubmitted (Clement said background checks are done every five years, with interim checks if new information is reported), the limitations on releasing juvenile records, and the practical effect of FBI “snapshot” responses.
An agency representative from DHHS told the committee the change is intended to align childcare licensing checks with the Department of Education system already used for school staff and to give licensing staff the information they need to act when an applicant has pending charges that might bar employment in child‑care settings.
