Bill limits WSP database

A bill rapidly moving through the Legislature would no longer require the state’s background check database to record civil findings of abuse, neglect or exploitation of children and vulnerable adults.

A state task force recommended the Legislature scrap the requirement after learning the Washington State Patrol database – used by the state’s day cares, nursing homes and other care providers to screen tens of thousands of potential employees each year – was unable to effectively track civil findings. The database also cannot track findings by disciplinary boards, such as those that oversee Washington’s nurses and physicians, unless the individuals agree to be fingerprinted or the cases are pursued criminally, according to state officials.

Providers across the state rely on the WSP database to check the backgrounds of applicants. State law requires that the Department of Social and Health Services ensure that people who care for vulnerable populations do not have a civil or disciplinary finding for exploiting or abusing people.

The bill passed the Senate 46-0 last week, and a similar bill is moving through the House of Representatives.

If the law passes, the providers will have to contact all 39 Washington counties as well as a dozen disciplinary boards to conduct a thorough background check, according to Jeff Crollard, an attorney with the state’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program.

“How is a care provider supposed to know?” Crollard said. “The answer I’ve heard is that the prospective employee is expected to self-disclose. Give me a break.”

The WSP database cannot effectively track the civil findings because it relies on fingerprints to conduct background checks, and those often aren’t provided to the state patrol, according to Toni Korneder, the state patrol’s identification and criminal history manager.

“In order to get into our database, you would have to have a fingerprint,” Korneder said.

Fingerprints are not required in civil adjudications, though the disciplinary boards can tell individuals who have lost a license that they should be fingerprinted, Korneder said.

The bill is the latest concern for the state’s background check program. The state auditor’s office has repeatedly criticized the process, stating in a recent audit that the state may be paying providers “who do not meet the standards of adequate background checks” and that “children are at risk of harm … due to inadequate checks performed.”

Earlier this month, The Spokesman-Review reported that DSHS allowed more than 100 employees to retain sensitive positions despite criminal records of professional misconduct and criminal convictions that included murder, statutory rape and robbery, according to the documents.

At least nine employees with the agency passed a massive background check in 2002 despite records of professional misconduct including stealing medication, forging a check and having a sexual relationship with a patient, according to internal documents reviewed by The Spokesman-Review. Others passed despite state civil findings of neglect or abuse of a child. All were allowed to keep state jobs where they have unsupervised access to vulnerable adults or children.

State officials said it would cost a substantial amount of money to revise the state database to accommodate civil findings. Instead, the task force recommended that the Legislature repeal portions of the state law to simplify the procedure.

According to the legislation, DSHS maintains the authority to examine the civil findings, even though they will not be part of the WSP database.

The bill also broadens the reportable criminal convictions, from a list of potentially disqualifying crimes to include all convictions.

The task force also recommended that the state establish a pilot program to gather fingerprints in noncriminal cases. The bill proposing the pilot program died in subcommittee in both the House and Senate.