HB 904 has been passed by the House and is now in the Senate Committee on Education & Youth for consideration. This bill requires that ALL child care workers (including centers, group homes, family homes, religious-based programs, etc.) must have received a satisfactory determination on both state and national fingerprint records checks before they can begin working.

This bill appears to have slipped in under everyone's radar as it was quickly passed by the Georgia House of Representatives and is now being taken up by the Senate Committee on Education and Youth.

If you are concerned about how this new law might impact your ability to hire staff in a timely manner, you must take action now! (This bill can be passed into law in as little as 2 or 3 days from where it currently sits!) Please see below on what you can do now!

Here is the link to the actual bill - HB 904. (Note: this link is to Georgia's online legislative pages in order to ensure that you have access to the most recent version.)

We begin by stating that we support the idea of having fingerprint records checks on child care employees. Our primary objection to this bill lies in its implementation and the likelihood that it will cause significant delays in a provider�s ability to hire new staff in a timely manner. With the requirement to maintain appropriate ratios at all times in the classrooms (and to minimize potential risks to children due to insufficient supervision), it is imperative that any roadblocks to hiring new staff be absolutely minimized. Here are the facts/assumptions upon which our proposal is based.

OUR PROPOSED SOLUTION

Continue the current practice of allowing a new employee to begin working upon obtaining a satisfactory GCIC criminal background check, but require her/him to submit an application for the state and national fingerprints check within 3 working days of obtaining the GCIC check. The 3 day "emergency employee" provision should be maintained to allow sufficient time to process GCIC background check (typically obtained within 24 hours but not always readily available in rural areas of Georgia).

This bill was first introduced by Rep. Sean Jerguson (R, 22nd) at the beginning of the session. Rep. Jerguson's father has worked in law enforcement all of his life and was the one who suggested this change in the law (i.e. there was no real "incident" that prompted this change). On Friday, February 29, members of our Legislative Team, along with our lobbyist, met with Rep. Jerguson to discuss his willingness to modify the bill to allow providers to continue hiring new employees with a clean GCIC background check yet require them to immediately apply for the state and national fingerprint checks. Unfortunately, Rep. Jerguson is unwilling to alter the language. Here are some of his thoughts and positions that he explained during our meeting.

He believes that more harm is likely to come to children in the event that an employee is able to "slip through" with a satisfactory GCIC check where a national fingerprint check would have "caught" them as opposed to the potential risks associated with delaying hiring times and potentially leaving classrooms out of ratio. (He did make a comment to the effect that it was his job to write a law to protect children and it was the provider's job to make sure their centers are adequately staffed.)
His real argument, however, is that he believes that there will be enough new electronic fingerprint processing centers throughout the state by the time the bill goes into effect (July 1) that it should be easy enough for applicants to go to one of those centers and have their fingerprints processed electronically which "should" get results within 24-48 hours. While he did acknowledge that there "may not be" enough processing centers throughout the state right now (we provided him with a map from the company showing the 56 locations currently available in Georgia), he stated that he believes that there will be a sufficient number available by the time the new law goes into effect. Their "plan" is to have enough electronic processing centers in place throughout the state that an applicant should not have to travel more than 25 miles to get to one.
He outlined the whole process as he saw it:
- After applying with the provider, the applicant would go to their local electronic processing center where everything would be processed and submitted right there, over the internet. The fingerprints and application would be e-mailed directly to the GBI and FBI. The GBI and FBI would run the fingerprints "usually within 24-48 hours" and then would electronically transfer the results directly to DECAL. DECAL would then make a determination and post their determination directly to their own website, where the provider could log in and see the results.

Here is a summary of our response to his "vision" of how the process would work

As of the date when this bill would be passed, there simply are not enough of these electronic processing centers available throughout the state. Rep. Jerguson actually somewhat agreed with this, but held firm to his belief that there would be enough by the time it goes into effect. (He did actually agree that if we have to run fingerprints with the "old" ink and paper that it would certainly take weeks or months to get results.)
We tried to point out that we believe a far greater number of children would be put at risk under this bill due to a provider's inability to hire staff in a timely manner. But he didn't really see that as "his problem".
We also believe that there are still several inconsistencies within the language of this bill as currently written. (i.e. Even if we agreed to his version, it still may not able to happen as he thinks it will due to the language used in various sections of the bill.)
We also have serious concerns that there is a significant percentage of providers (particularly among the 6,500+ group and in-home providers) that just don't have internet access at all to be able to access the results.
We also expressed concerns that a great many rural and low-income providers may not have access to adequate transportation to access an electronic processing center even if it is only 25 miles away (let alone the current 60+ mile trip which would be required right now in many parts of the state!)
We pointed out that the current language in his bill gives GCIC/GBI 10 days from the time they receive the initial application to actually process the fingerprints. Rep. Jerguson stated that this time cannot be changed to due the laws the govern the GBI, but again said that he believed that they would process the fingerprints faster than 10 days.
We also pointed out that the law gives DECAL an additional 10 days from the date they receive the results of the national fingerprint check to make a determination of "satisfactory" (or not). His response was that he has provided for additional funding for DECAL to add the necessary staff to process the records checks and does not believe it will take them 10 days to make the determination.

The end result of the meeting was that Mr. Jerguson said that he would think about possibly extending the effective date of the bill until the end of the year to allow sufficient time to set up more electronic processing centers around the state. But he was not willing to make any changes to allow us to hire new staff with the GCIC and then apply for the fingerprint checks.

Over the next few days, our Legislative Team had several informal conversations with DECAL representatives. While they have almost recognized the potential for this law to create significant delays in a provider's ability to hire staff in a timely manner, they have yet to truly work with us on implementing a compromise that will limit the potential harm that this law will cause.

The one thing that all parties seem to be in complete agreement about is that the only way this new law can work is if there are enough electronic processing centers throughout the state and that all providers must have the necessary resources to be able to access them. Everyone agrees that neither the providers nor the state agencies will be able to comply with this law without the electronic processing technologies upon which the law is based. However, everyone also agrees that as of today, there are still not enough processing centers throughout the state! So we are about to pass a law that absolutely requires the use of a technology that does not currently exist in sufficient supply!

Here is our primary question to the legislators and leadership of DECAL:

"Can you absolutely guarantee that these new electronic processing centers will be truly accessible to ALL providers throughout the state by the time this law goes into effect? And can you also guarantee that all providers will have adequate resources (e.g. technology and transportation) to access these centers?

If they cannot make these guarantees, then we should seriously consider the potential impact that this legislation will have.

WHAT CAN I DO?

The only way we will be able to impact this legislation is for you to contact each of the parties involved and tell them your concerns about this bill. The absolute best way is to call them personally and share your concerns. Please be sure to share our proposed solution too! (See the Talking Points below.)

NOTE: Please be sure to e-mail us at admin@georgiachildcare.org to let us know you have made these contacts so we can follow up!

Who To Contact

Here are the people who need to hear from you right now. At the very least, please contact the Senate Committee Chairman (Dan Weber), Commissioner Holly Robinson (DECAL), and the Governor. You should also consider contacting your own legislators (using the links below) and ask them to speak with any of these people on your behalf.

Senate

Education and Youth

Committee Members

Weber, Dan (R-SS 40)	Chairman	(Northern Dekalb & Southwest Gwinnett)
Carter, Joseph (R-SS 13)	Vice Chairman	(Lee, Worth, Tift, Irwin, Ben Hill, Turner, Crisp, Wilcox)
Thomas, Don (R-SS 54)	Secretary	(Catoosa, Whitfield, Murray, Gordon)
Balfour, Don (R-SS 09)	Member	(central & south Gwinnett; Lawrenceville)
Douglas, John (R-SS 17)	Member	(Walton, Newton, Henry, Spalding)
Fort, Vincent (D-SS 39)	Member	(Atlanta)
Jackson, Bill (R-SS 24)	Ex-Officio	(Elbert, Wilkes, Lincoln, Columbia. McDuffie, Glascock)
Moody, Dan (R-SS 56)	Member	(North Fulton)
Ramsey, Sr., Ronald B. (D-SS 43)	Member	(SE DeKalb, Rockdale)
Tate, Horacena (D-SS 38)	Member	(NW Atlanta)
Thomas, Regina D. (D-SS 02)	Member	(North Chatham; Savannah)
Williams, Tommie (R-SS 19)	Ex-Officio	(Wheeler. Montgomery, Toombs, Tattnal, Long, Wayne, Appling, Jeff Davis)

House Health & Human Services Committee

Charlice Byrd	Mike Cheokas	Doug Collins
Katie Dempsey	Karla Drenner	Tom Graves
Bill Hembree	Michele Henson	Sistie Hudson
Lester Jackson	Sean Jerguson	Sheila Jones
Margaret Kaiser	Mike Keown	Jimmy Lord
Barry Loudermilk	John Lunsford	Gene Maddox
Fran Millar	Billy Mitchell	Howard Mosby
Don Parsons	Allen Peake	Nikki Randall
Carl Rogers	Tony Sellier	Robbin Shipp
Barbara Sims	Pam Stephenson	"Able" Mable Thomas
Stan Watson	Joe Wilkinson

Bright from the Start - DECAL - Holly Robinson, Commissioner - (404) 656-5957 or holly.robinson@decal.state.ga.us

Governor Sonny Perdue - e-mail link

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle - e-mail link

Rep. Sean Jerguson (author of HB 904) - (404) 656-0287 or sean@electsean.com

Help me find my Representatives (This will open a new webpage - type your zip code in the upper left corner of the page and it will take you to a page where you can scroll down and find contact links for your own local state representative(s) and senator. Those links will give you their contact phone numbers and e-mail addresses.)

Talking Points

We do agree that having fingerprint records checks on all employees is a good thing - as long as it doesn't interfere with our ability to hire replacement staff in a timely manner
We believe that the law as currently written would cause significant delays in hiring
A delay in hiring will certainly put thousands of children at risk due to understaffed and/or out of ratio classrooms
Our proposal to allow the hiring of staff with a clean GCIC records check (as is the current law) will still ensure that we are taking reasonable steps to protect the children from predators
There are currently NOT ENOUGH electronic fingerprint processing centers throughout Georgia
Even if we do get more fingerprint processing centers, a significant number of providers will still have transportation and/or technology limitations which may require additional time to resolve (e.g. arranging for a ride)
This bill still allows the GBI/FBI to take up to 10 days to process fingerprints (even under the electronic system)
This bill still allows DECAL an additional 10 days to review the results and make a determination as to whether they are satisfactory
So even if every provider in the state had an electronic fingerprint station in their center, the law still allows for as much as 20 days to get the results!
Requiring fingerprint checks before an employee can being working will significantly reduce the available pool of child care applicants state-wide. These are mostly entry-level jobs and many will simply opt to apply for a job elsewhere rather than go through the effort of driving 25-60 miles (each way) to have fingerprints taken before they even know if they've got the job.

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU CALL ...

Simply leave a message that it is crucial that they do NOT allow HB 904 to pass as currently written as it will truly JEOPARDIZE THE SAFETY of literally tens of thousands of children all across Georgia due to understaffed classrooms! We support fingerprinting child care workers, but this bill as currently written will prevent all child care programs from hiring new staff in a timely manner. You should tell them that GCCA has offered an amendment that would still provide for the fingerprinting of all child care workers, but in a way that would not prevent the hiring of staff in a timely manner.

The only way to impact this bill is to express our concern that the bill as currently written will actually put many more children in direct danger than it will protect. They do not care about provider expense or convenience - only doing what will be of the greatest benefit to children. Which is exactly what we are trying to protect!