Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §6103, sub-§4-A, śC, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 791, §4, is amended to read:

C. A person employed as a substitute who has not been fingerprinted prior to the effective date of this subsection must meet the requirements by July 1, 2002.__ Beginning with the 2003-2004 school year, a person employed as a substitute who needs fingerprinting and a criminal history record check pursuant to section 13011, subsection 8 must meet the requirements of this section within 8 weeks of employment by a school administrative unit.__A person employed as a substitute who needs fingerprinting and a criminal history record check must be issued a temporary approval card by the department.__The temporary approval card is valid for the first 8 weeks of employment, except that, a person who has been fingerprinted pursuant to this section prior to the 20th day of employment and who has not received the results of the criminal history record check prior to the 9th week of employment, the temporary approval card remains valid until the commissioner determines whether approval is granted or denied based on the criminal history record information obtained from the State Bureau of Identification; and

SUMMARY

Current law requires that a regular school employee subject to the fingerprinting and criminal history record check requirements must meet these requirements prior to the 20th day of employment. This bill provides that, beginning with the 2003-2004 school year, a person employed by a school as a substitute, and who also needs fingerprinting and a criminal history record check must be issued a temporary approval card by the Department of Education and must meet the fingerprinting and criminal history record check requirements within 8 weeks of employment. The bill also provides that, for a person employed as a substitute and who has been fingerprinted pursuant to criminal history record check requirements, the temporary approval card remains valid until the Commissioner of Education determines whether approval is granted or denied based on the criminal history record information obtained from the State Bureau of Identification.