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Senate approves expanded background checks for home-health workers
Summary
The Senate passed Substitute Senate Bill 64 unanimously (27–0 with 2 absent), expanding which background databases licensed health-care facilities may access for home-health hires while limiting access for exempted facilities and individuals, and coordinated the bill with a pending childcare-database measure.
Substitute Senate Bill 64, a bill to clarify and expand background-check access for home-health professionals, passed the Utah State Senate on Feb. 17 by roll call.
Senator Wadhams explained the legislation and the handout showing which databases would be accessible under the bill: licensed health-care facilities would have access to the BCI criminal checks, the FBI records, the nurse-aide registry and APS management information systems; hospitals and certain exempted health-care facilities would be limited to BCI and the certified nurse-aide registry; individuals hiring in-home caregivers would likewise have access to the BCI and nurse-aide registry under the bill's definitions. The stated purpose is to reduce gaps and avoid duplication between the department-run checks and existing registries.
Senator Petersen offered amendments to align SB64 with a childcare-database bill that would restrict access in that parallel system; the Senate adopted Petersen's amendment and then voted on the amended bill. The chair announced Substitute SB64 had 27 aye votes, no nay votes and 2 absent; the bill will be sent to the House for their consideration.
Supporters emphasized protecting vulnerable populations by broadening access to investigative records while opponents had sought safeguards on who could query particular databases. The enacted language ties access to facility type and narrows the data available to exempted institutions and private hirers.
