House Study Bill 677
HOUSE FILE
BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON
HUMAN RESOURCES BILL BY
CHAIRPERSON UPMEYER)
Passed House, Date Passed Senate, Date
Vote: Ayes Nays Vote: Ayes Nays
Approved
A BILL FOR
1 An Act relating to the criminal and abuse registry checks
2 required of a person employed by a licensed health care
3 facility.
4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
5 TLSB 6428HC 81
6 jp/je/5
PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. Section 135C.33, subsection 4, Code 2005, is
1 2 amended to read as follows:
1 3 4. a. A Except as provided in paragraph "b", a person who
1 4 has committed a crime or has a record of founded child or
1 5 dependent adult abuse shall not be employed in a facility
1 6 licensed under this chapter unless an evaluation has been
1 7 performed by the department of human services. If the
1 8 department of human services determines from the evaluation
1 9 that the person has committed a crime or has a record of
1 10 founded child or dependent adult abuse which warrants
1 11 prohibition of employment, the person shall not be employed in
1 12 a facility licensed under this chapter.
1 13 b. A person with a criminal or abuse record who is
1 14 employed by a facility licensed under this chapter and is
1 15 hired by another licensee without a lapse in employment shall
1 16 be subject to the criminal history and abuse record checks
1 17 required pursuant to subsection 1. If an evaluation was
1 18 previously performed by the department of human services
1 19 concerning the person's criminal or abuse record and it was
1 20 determined that the record did not warrant prohibition of the
1 21 person's employment and the latest record checks do not
1 22 indicate a crime was committed or founded abuse record was
1 23 entered subsequent to that evaluation, the person may commence
1 24 employment with the other licensee while the department of
1 25 human services' evaluation of the latest record checks is
1 26 pending. Otherwise, the requirements of paragraph "a" remain
1 27 applicable to the person's employment.
1 28 EXPLANATION
1 29 This bill relates to the criminal and abuse registry checks
1 30 required of a person employed by a licensed health care
1 31 facility in accordance with Code section 135C.33. A health
1 32 care facility is defined by Code section 135C.1 as a
1 33 residential care facility, a nursing facility, an intermediate
1 34 care facility for persons with mental illness, or an
1 35 intermediate care facility for persons with mental
2 1 retardation.
2 2 The bill provides an exception to an existing requirement
2 3 that a person employed by a licensed health care facility who
2 4 has a criminal record or a record of founded dependent adult
2 5 and child abuse cannot be employed by a health care facility
2 6 unless the department of human services performs an evaluation
2 7 to determine whether prohibition of the person's employment is
2 8 warranted. The bill's exception applies only if a person
2 9 employed by a licensed health care facility is hired by
2 10 another licensee without a lapse in employment and was
2 11 previously subject to an evaluation that determined that
2 12 prohibition of the person's employment was not warranted. If
2 13 the latest record checks do not indicate a crime was committed
2 14 or founded abuse record was entered subsequent to that
2 15 evaluation, the person may commence employment with the other
2 16 licensee while the department of human services' evaluation of
2 17 the new record checks is pending.
2 18 LSB 6428HC 81
2 19 jp:nh/je/5