COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 625
(By Senator Wooton)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 26, 1999.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section fifteen, article one, chapter
thirty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to authorizing
professional licensing boards to obtain fingerprints from
license applicants and licensees for the purpose of
obtaining criminal history record checks; authorizing boards
to obtain criminal history information on license applicants
and licensees; limiting use of information; and establishing
criminal penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fifteen, article one, chapter thirty of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO ALL STATE BOARDS OF
EXAMINATION OR REGISTRATION REFERRED TO IN CHAPTER.
§30-1-15. Boards may obtain criminal history record checks on an applicants for a censure and licensees; mandated limitations;
destruction of prints; offense; penalties.
(a) Notwithstanding any provision in this code to the
contrary, a professional licensing board created pursuant to the
provisions of this chapter may require an applicant for licensure
or licensees subject to lawful sanction by the board or a
licensee to furnish to the board a full set of fingerprints for
purposes of conducting criminal history record checks if such is
found necessary by a majority vote of a board. The professional
licensing board may obtain criminal history information from the
criminal identification bureau of the West Virginia state police
and the United States federal bureau of investigation on any
applicant for licensure or current licensee.
(b) A licensing board which obtains a set or sets of
fingerprints pursuant to a subsection (a) of this section shall
only use the fingerprints for purposes of the background check
and shall destroy all fingerprints obtained upon completion of
the criminal history record check.
(c) Any person who violates the provisions of subsection (b)
of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof, be confined in a county or regional jail for
not more than six months or fined not more than one thousand
dollars, or both.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize
professional licensing boards to obtain fingerprints from license
applicants and licensees for the purpose of obtaining criminal
history record checks, and to authorize boards to obtain criminal
history information on license applicants and licensees.
This section has been completely rewritten; therefore,
strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.)