Indiana Makes Technical Correction Affecting Criminal History Providers

In early August 2013, backgroundchecks.com reported on the passage of Indiana House Bill 1392 which, among other things, amended laws about criminal history providers. The bill was drafted after a study committee reviewed and amended a law that had passed in 2012 (House Bill 1033), with an effective date of July 2013. A purpose of House Bill 1392 was to adjust the law to permit criminal history providers the ability to provide certain information relating to an incident that did not result in a conviction (for example, pending arrest cases). But, after House Bill 1392 passed, House Bill 1006 (2013) amended the same sections of the Indiana Code. Its authors apparently had not noted the passage of House Bill 1392, so accidentally re-instated parts of the law as it was in effect after House Bill 1033 and before House Bill 1392.

The version of Indiana Code § 24-4-18-6 that reflected the amendments as passed in House Bill 1392 was less restrictive and permitted the release of records that did not result in a conviction. Another version of Indiana Code § 24-4-18-6 restored the restrictive language which permitted a criminal history provider to provide only criminal history information that relates to a conviction, and prohibited the release of information that relates to infractions, arrests, or charges that did not result in a conviction.

Because there were two conflicting versions of the law, House Bill 1006 (2014) – confusingly the same bill number as in 2013 - was introduced in the 2014 legislative session. Section 35 (pgs. 44 & 45) of the bill provides a technical correction reflecting the intent of the study committee. This bill again amends Indiana Code § 24-4-18-6 to allow criminal history providers to release records that did not result in a conviction, such as pending arrest cases. It was passed by the legislature on March 18, 2014, and Governor Mike Pence signed it on March 26, 2014.

House Bill 1006 (2014) goes into effect July 1, 2014. It is available here: http://iga.in.gov/static-documents/7/9/9/c/799c6d19/HB1006.07.ENRH.pdf

backgroundchecks.com’s compliance update dated August 17, 2012: http://www.backgroundbiz.com/compliance/complianceupdate_08172012.html

backgroundchecks.com’s compliance update dated August 2, 2013: http://www.backgroundbiz.com/compliance/complianceupdate_08022013.html