CRIME PREVENTION AND PRIVACY COMPACT

• Section 1. Short Title
• Section 2. Findings and Purpose
• Section 3. Enactment and Consent of the United States
• Section 4. Effect on other laws
• Section 5. Enforcement and Implementation
• Section 6. User Fees for Nonparty States
• Section 7. National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact
• Section-By-Section Analysis

Be it enacted by Technologies To The People assembled:

Section 1. Short Title

This Act may be cited as the "Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact."

Section 2. Findings and Purpose

(a) Findings. Congress finds that both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and State criminal-history record repositories maintain fingerprint-based criminal-history records. These criminal-history records are shared and exchanged for criminal-justice purposes through a Federal-State program known as the Interstate Identification Index (III) System. Although these records are also exchanged for legally authorized, noncriminal-justice uses, such as governmental licensing and employment background checks, the purposes for and procedures by which they are exchanged vary widely from State to State. An interstate and Federal-State compact is necessary to facilitate authorized criminal-history record exchanges for noncriminal-justice purposes on a uniform basis. Such a compact will allow State and Federal records to be provided expeditiously to governmental and nongovernmental agencies that use such records in accordance with pertinent Federal and State law, while simultaneously safeguarding the information contained therein from unauthorized disclosure or use.

(b) Purposes. The purposes of this Act are to enact such a compact into law, to effect participation in the compact by the United States, and to provide the legal framework by which the States may enter into the same.

Section 3. Enactment and Consent of the United States

The "Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact" (Compact hereinafter) is hereby enacted into law and entered into by the United States.

Section 4. Effect on other laws

(a) Nothing in the Compact shall diminish, expand, or otherwise affect the obligations and responsibilities of the FBI under the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended.

(b) Nothing provided herein shall interfere in any manner with the access, direct or otherwise, to records pursuant to the Security Clearance Information Act, Section 9101 of Title 5, United States Code; the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, Public Law 103-159 (107 Stat. 1536); the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Public Law 103-322 (108 Stat. 2074); the United States Housing Act of 1937, (42 U.S.C. 1437, et. seq.); or the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996, Public Law 104-330 (110 Stat. 4016); or any direct access to Federal criminal-history records authorized by any other Federal statute at the time of congressional approval of the Compact. Nothing in the Compact shall diminish, expand, or otherwise affect the authority of the FBI under Public Law 92-544 (86 Stat. 1115).

(c) The Council created by the Compact shall not be considered a Federal Advisory Committee for purposes of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Public Law 92-463, 86 Stat. 770).

(d) Members of the Compact Council (other than a member from the FBI or any at-large member who may be a Federal official or employee) shall not, by virtue of such membership, be deemed to be, for any purpose other than to effect this Compact, officers or employees of the United States as defined by Sections 2104-2105 of Title 5, United States Code, or to become entitled by reason of Council membership to any compensation or benefit payable or made available by the United States to its officers or employees.

Section 5. Enforcement and Implementation

All departments, agencies, officers and employees of the United States are hereby directed to enforce this Compact and to cooperate with one another and with all party States in enforcing the Compact and effectuating its purposes. For the United States, the U.S. Attorney General shall establish such regulations, prescribe such instructions, and perform such other acts as may be necessary for carrying out this Act.

Section 6. User Fees for Nonparty States

Any State which fails to enter into the Compact within five years after the date when this Act is enacted shall pay a user fee that is one and one-half times the amount of any fee charged to a party State for each use of the III System or the electronic information sharing system organized by the Compact.

Section 7. National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact

The Contracting Parties solemnly agree:

This Compact organizes an electronic information sharing system among the States and the Federal government to exchange criminal-history records for a variety of legally authorized noncriminal-justice purposes, such as background checks for governmental licensing and employment. Under the Compact, the FBI and the States agree to maintain detailed databases of their respective criminal-history records, including arrests and dispositions, and to make them available to parties to the Compact for authorized purposes. The FBI will also manage the Federal data facilities that provide a significant part of the infrastructure for the system.

As used in this Compact:

(a) "Compact officer" means, for the United States Government, an official so designated by the Director of the FBI and, for a party State, the chief administrator of the State's criminal-history record repository or a designee who is a regular full-time employee of that repository.

(b) "Criminal-history records" means information collected by criminal-justice agencies on individuals consisting of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, indictments, or other formal criminal charges, and any disposition arising therefrom, including acquittal, sentencing, correctional supervision, or release. The term does not include identification information such as fingerprint records if such information does not indicate involvement of the individual with the criminal justice system.

(c) "Criminal-history record repository" means the State agency designated by the governor or other appropriate executive official or the legislature to perform centralized record-keeping functions for criminal-history records and services in the State.

(d) "Criminal justice" encompasses any of the following activities: detection, apprehension, detention, pretrial release, post-trial release, prosecution, adjudication, correctional supervision, or rehabilitation of accused persons or criminal offenders. The administration of criminal justice shall include criminal identification activities and the collection, storage, and dissemination of criminal-history records.

(e) "Criminal-justice agency" means (1)Courts; (2) a governmental agency or any subunit thereof which performs the administration of criminal justice pursuant to a statute or executive order, and which allocates a substantial part of its annual budget to the administration of criminal justice. State and Federal Inspector General Offices are included.

(f) "Criminal-justice services" means services provided by the FBI to criminal-justice agencies in response to a request for information about a particular individual or as an update to information previously provided for criminal justice purposes.

(g) "Criterion offense" means any felony or misdemeanor not included on the list of nonserious offenses published periodically by the FBI.

(h) "Direct access" means access to the National Identification Index by computer terminal or other automated means not requiring the assistance of or intervention by any other party or agency.

(i) "Executive order" means an order of the President of the United States or the chief executive official of a State which has the force of law and which is promulgated in accordance with applicable law.

(j) "FBI" means the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

(k) "Interstate Identification Index System" or "III System" means the cooperative Federal-State system for the exchange of criminal-history records and includes the National Identification Index, the National Fingerprint File and, to the extent of their participation in such system, the criminal- history record repositories of the States and the FBI.

(l) "National Fingerprint File" means a database of fingerprints, or other uniquely personal identifying information, about an arrested or charged individual maintained by the FBI to provide positive identification of record subjects indexed in the III System.

(m) "National Identification Index" means an index maintained by the FBI consisting of names, identifying numbers, and other descriptive information relating to record subjects about whom there are criminal-history records in the III System.

(n) "National indices" means the National Identification Index and the National Fingerprint File.

(o) "Non-Compact or nonparty State" means a State that has not ratified the Compact.

(p) "Noncriminal-justice purposes" means uses of criminal-history records for other than criminal-justice purposes authorized by Federal or State law including, but not limited to, employment suitability or licensing determinations, immigration and naturalization matters, and national security clearances.

(q) "Party or Compact State" means a State that has ratified this Compact.

(r) "Positive identification" means a determination, based upon a comparison of fingerprints or other equally reliable biometric identification techniques, that the subject of a record search is the same person as the subject of a criminal-history record or records indexed in the III System.

(s) "Sealed record information" means:

(1) For adults, that portion of a record that is: (A) not available for criminal-justice uses; (B) not supported by fingerprints or other accepted means of positive identification; or (C) subject to restrictions on dissemination for noncriminal-justice purposes pursuant to a court order related to a particular subject or pursuant to a State or Federal statute that requires action on a sealing petition filed by a particular record subject.

(2) For juveniles, whatever each State determines is a sealed record under its own law and procedure.

(t) "State" means any State, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

The purposes of this Compact are to:

(a) Provide a legal framework for the establishment of a cooperative Federal-State system for the interstate and Federal-State exchange of criminal-history records for noncriminal-justice uses;

(b) Require the FBI to permit use of the National Identification Index and the National Fingerprint File by parties to this Compact, and to provide, in a timely fashion, Federal and State criminal-history records to requesting States, in accordance with the terms of this Compact and with rules, procedures, and standards established by the Compact Council under Article VI of this Compact;

(c) Require party States to provide information and records for the National Identification Index and the National Fingerprint File and to provide criminal-history records, in a timely fashion, to criminal-history record repositories of other States and the Federal Government for noncriminal-justice purposes, in accordance with the terms of this Compact and with rules, procedures, and standards established by the Compact Council under Article VI of this Compact;

(d) Provide for the establishment of a Compact Council to monitor III-system operations and to promulgate system rules and procedures for the effective and proper operation of the III System for noncriminal-justice purposes; and

(e) Require parties to the Compact to adhere to system standards concerning record dissemination and use, response times, system security, data quality, and other duly established standards.

(a) FBI Responsibilities

(1) The FBI Director shall appoint an FBI Compact Officer who will:

(A) have responsibility for administering the provisions of this Compact within the Department of Justice and the Federal user community.

(B) ensure that Compact provisions and rules, procedures, and standards established by the Compact Council under Article VI of this Compact are complied with in the Federal user community; and,

(C) regulate the use of records received by means of the III System from party states when such records are supplied by the FBI directly to other Federal Agencies.

(2) The FBI will provide to Federal agencies and to State criminal-history record repositories, criminal-history records maintained in its database for noncriminal-justice purposes described in Article IV. These responses will include information from non-Compact States and from Compact States relating to records for which such States have not assumed responsibility, to the extent that such data is maintained in FBI records.

(3) The FBI will provide a telecommunications network and maintain centralized facilities for the exchange of criminal-history records for both criminal-justice and noncriminal-justice purposes described in Article IV. The FBI will ensure that the exchange of these records for criminal-justice purposes has priority over exchange for noncriminal-justice purposes.

(4) The FBI will modify or enter into user agreements with non-Compact State criminal-history record repositories to require them to establish record-request procedures conforming to those prescribed in Article V of this Compact.

(b) State Responsibilities

(1) Each party State shall appoint a Compact officer who will:

(A) have responsibility for administering the provisions of this Compact within that State;

(B) ensure that Compact provisions and rules, procedures, and standards established by the Compact Council under Article VI of this Compact are complied with in the State; and

(C) regulate the in-state use of records received by means of the III System from the FBI or from other party States.

(2) Each party State's criminal-history record repository will:

(A) provide information and records for the National Identification Index and the National Fingerprint File, and

(B) provide the State's III System-indexed criminal-history records for noncriminal-justice purposes described in Article IV.

(3) Each party State will participate in the National Fingerprint File.

(4) Each party State will provide and maintain telecommunications links and related equipment necessary to support the services set forth in this Compact.

(c) Compliance with III System Standards. In carrying out their responsibilities under the Compact, party States and the FBI will comply with system rules, procedures, and standards duly established by the Compact Council concerning record dissemination and use, response times, data quality, system security, and other aspects of system operation.

(d) Maintenance of Record Services

(1) Use of the III System for noncriminal-justice purposes authorized in this Compact shall be managed so as not to diminish the level of services provided in support of criminal-justice purposes.

(2) Administration of Compact provisions shall not reduce the level of service available to authorized noncriminal- justice users on the effective date of this Compact.

(a) To the extent authorized by the Privacy Act, the FBI will provide on request criminal-history records (including all unsealed Federal criminal-history records relating to criterion offenses for record subjects indexed in the III systems) to State criminal-history record repositories for noncriminal-justice purposes allowed by Federal statute, Federal Executive Order, or a State statute that has been approved by the U.S. Attorney General, which authorizes national indices checks.

(b) The FBI, to the extent authorized by the Privacy Act, and State record repositories will provide criminal-history records (including all unsealed State criminal-history record information relating to criterion offenses for record subjects indexed in the III system) to criminal-justice agencies and other governmental or nongovernmental agencies for noncriminal-justice purposes allowed by Federal statute, Federal Executive Order, or a State statute that has been approved by the U.S. Attorney General, which authorizes national indices checks.

(c) Records obtained under this Compact may be used only for the official purposes for which they were requested. Compact officers shall establish procedures and measures, consistent with the provisions of this Compact, and with rules, procedures, and standards established by the Compact Council under Article VI of this Compact, to ensure that records are used only by authorized officials for authorized purposes and to require that subsequent record checks are requested to obtain current information whenever a new need arises. These procedures must ensure that record entries that may not legally be used for a particular noncriminal-justice purpose will be deleted from the response and, if no information authorized for release remains, an appropriate "no record" response will be communicated to the requesting official.

(a) Applicant fingerprints or other approved forms of positive identification will be submitted with all requests for criminal-history record checks for noncriminal-justice purposes.

(b) Requests for criminal-history record checks utilizing the National Indices made under any approved State statute shall be submitted through that State's criminal-history record repository. A State criminal-history record repository will process interstate requests for noncriminal-justice purposes through the national indices only if such requests are transmitted through another State criminal-history record repository or the FBI.

(c) Requests for criminal-history record checks utilizing the National Indices made under Federal authority shall be submitted through the FBI or, if the repository consents to process fingerprint submissions, through the repository in the State in which such requests originated. Direct access to the National Identification Index by entities other than the FBI and State criminal-history records repositories shall not be permitted for noncriminal-justice purposes.

(d) State repositories and the FBI may charge fees for handling requests involving fingerprint processing for noncriminal-justice purposes. No fees will be charged, however, for providing criminal-history records in response to an electronic request for a record that does not involve a request to process fingerprints.

(e) If a State repository cannot positively identify the subject of a record request made for noncriminal-justice purposes, then the request, together with fingerprints or other approved identifying information, will be forwarded to the FBI for a search of the national indices. If the FBI positively identifies the subject as having a III System-indexed record or records, then the FBI will so advise the State repository that submitted the request. The repository will then be entitled to obtain the additional criminal-history record information from the FBI or other State repositories.

(a) There is hereby established a Compact Council which shall have the authority to promulgate rules and procedures governing the use of the III System for noncriminal-justice purposes, not to conflict with FBI administration of the III System for criminal-justice purposes. The Council shall continue in existence so long as the Compact remains in effect. The Council shall be located, for administrative purposes, within the FBI. The Council shall be organized and its first meeting held as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Compact.

(b) The Council shall consist of 15 members whose appointment by the U.S. Attorney General shall be in accordance with the below criteria:

(1) Nine members, each to serve for two-year terms, selected from the duly designated Compact officers of party States based upon the recommendation of the Compact officers of all party States. (In the absence of the requisite number of Compact officers available to serve, the chief administrators of the criminal-history record repositories of non-Compact States shall be eligible to serve on an interim basis);

(2) Two at-large members, each to serve three-year terms; one to represent Federal criminal-justice agencies, and one to represent Federal noncriminal-justice agencies, nominated by the Director of the FBI;

(3) Two at-large members, each to serve three-year terms; one to represent State or local criminal-justice agencies, and one to represent State or local noncriminal-justice agencies, nominated by the Compact Council Chairman;

(4) One member, to serve a three-year term, who is simultaneously a member of the FBI's advisory policy board on criminal-justice information services nominated by the membership of this board; and

(5) One member, to serve a three-year term, who is simultaneously an employee of the FBI, nominated by the Director of the FBI.

(c) The Chairman of the Council shall be a member of and elected by the members of the Council. The Chairman shall be a Compact officer unless there is no Compact officer on the Council who is willing to serve, in which case, the Chairman may be an at-large member. The Chairman shall serve a two-year term and may be re-elected to only one additional two-year term.

(d) The Council shall meet at least once each year. Meetings shall be open to the public. Appropriate prior public notices shall be provided.

(e) The Council shall have authority to request from the FBI such reports, studies, statistics, or other information or materials as it finds necessary to enable it to perform its duties under this Compact. The FBI, to the extent authorized by law, may provide such assistance or information.

(f) The Chairman may establish technical or other committees as necessary and may prescribe their membership, responsibilities, and duration.

This Compact shall become effective immediately upon its execution by two or more States as between those States and the United States. Upon subsequent ratification of the Compact by additional States, it shall become effective among these States and parties that have previously ratified it. When ratified, the Compact shall have the full force and effect of law within the ratifying jurisdictions. The form of ratification shall be in accordance with the laws of the executing State.

(a) Administration of the Compact shall not interfere with the management and control of the Director of the FBI over the FBI's collection and dissemination of criminal-history records and the advisory function of the FBI's advisory policy board chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act for all purposes other than noncriminal-justice.

(b) Nothing in this Compact shall require the FBI to obligate or expend funds beyond its appropriations.

(c) Nothing in this Compact shall diminish or lessen the obligations, responsibilities, and authorities of any State, whether a Compact State or a non-Compact State, or of any criminal-history record repository or other subdivision or component thereof, under Public Law 92-544, or regulations and guidelines promulgated thereunder including the III-System Standards referred to in Article III(c), regarding the use and dissemination of criminal-history record and information.

This Compact shall bind each party State until renounced by it. Renunciation of this Compact shall be effected in the same manner by which a State ratified the Compact. Renunciation shall become effective six months after written notice of renunciation is provided to all other parties.

The provisions of this Compact shall be severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence or provision of this Compact is declared to be contrary to the constitution of any participating State, or of the United States, or the applicability thereof to any government, agency, person or circumstance is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this Compact and the applicability thereof to any government, agency, person or circumstances shall not be affected thereby. If a portion of this Compact shall be held contrary to the constitution of any State participating therein, the Compact shall remain in full force and effect as to the remaining States and in full force and effect as to the State affected as to all other provisions.

The Compact Council shall have original jurisdiction concerning this Compact regarding interpretations of the Compact, rules or standards established by the Compact Council pursuant to Article V, and disputes or controversies between parties to this Compact. The Council shall hold a hearing concerning the above at any regularly scheduled meeting and will only render a decision based upon a majority vote of its members. The FBI shall exercise immediate and necessary action to preserve the integrity of the III System, maintain system policy and standards, and to prevent abuses, until the Council shall hold a hearing on such matters. Parties may appeal the decisions of the Compact Council to the U.S. Attorney General, and finally to the appropriate United States District Court, which shall have original jurisdiction of all cases or controversies arising under this Compact. Any appeal so arising initiated in a state court shall be removed to the appropriate United States District Court in the manner provided by Section 1446 of Title 28, United States Code, or other statutory authority.