Background - All of Us or None v. Hamrick
In the May 2021 decision in All of Us or None v. Hamrick, the California Court of Appeal ruled in the interest of privacy for individuals involved in criminal proceedings. Since that ruling, state courts have been prohibited from allowing the public to search their electronic court records using an individual's date or birth or driver's license number. As a result, companies providing background check screening services lost access to these crucial identifiers that are typically required to confirm whether a criminal record belongs to a particular individual. This restriction slowed the background screening process for California courts across the board.
The CFPB affirmed in an advisory opinion in November 2021 that "name-only matching" by consumer reporting agencies does not satisfy the FCRA requirement to follow "reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy" of a report. To remain in compliance with CFPB guidance, Truescreen continues to follow the best practice of requiring additional identifiers, outside of name, to confirm that a criminal record belongs to the individual on the report.
Introduction of Senate Bill 1262
In March 2022, Senator Bradford of the State Senate introduced SB 1262, which would have changed superior court rules to once again allow court criminal records' filtering by a subject's known date of birth and/or driver's license number. The bill's goal was to allow background screening professionals to confirm the criminal records of prospective or current employees - an essential step to ensure workplace safety and risk management. The bill passed in both the senate and the assembly and went to Governor Newsom for his signature.
Veto of Senate Bill 1262 by the Governor
On September 29, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill with a statement favoring an individual's right to privacy over the public safety provided by access to criminal record information.
What does this mean for employers?
While passing SB 1262 would have allowed easier and faster access to the identifiers required for background screening companies to match criminal records, Truescreen has already taken major strides in reducing the turnaround time while maintaining maximum possible accuracy for California courts searches.
By targeting our proprietary FastPath® automation processes specifically at California courts, optimizing record search processes, improving communication channels with courts, and streamlining record analysis, Truescreen was able to reduce the turnaround time for most California counties by more than half in 2022. Our current overall turnaround time for California court searches is less than 1.5 days.
While SB 1262 would have assisted further in reducing turnaround times for California criminal court searches, we continue to make every effort to quickly and accurately return these vital criminal records to our clients.
For additional information on our efforts to overcome California ID limitations, please contact your Truescreen Account Manager or Sales Executive.
Posted: October 6, 2022