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An Act To Authorize the Commissioner of Education To Allow Access to Criminal History Record Information to Entities Providing Document Management and To Remove Applicants' Fingerprints from the Fingerprint File
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §6103, sub-§3, as amended by PL 1997, c. 452, §3, is further amended to read:
 
3. Confidentiality.   Any information obtained pursuant to this section is confidential. The results of criminal history record checks received by the commissioner are for official use only and may not be disseminated outside the department, except that the commissioner may outsource administrative functions of software document management according to federal outsourcing standards as described in 28 Code of Federal Regulations, Section 906.2 (2011) and allow access to these results for that purpose.
Sec. 2. 20-A MRSA §6103, sub-§9, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 110, §2, is amended to read:
 
9. Right of applicant and commissioner to remove fingerprints from fingerprint file.   Teachers or educational personnel whose certification, authorization or approval has expired and who have not applied for renewal of certification, authorization or approval may request in writing that the State Bureau of Identification remove their fingerprints from the bureau's fingerprint file. In response to a written request, the bureau shall remove the requester's fingerprints from the fingerprint file and provide written confirmation of that removal to the requester.
 
The commissioner may, without notice to an applicant, remove fingerprints from the fingerprint file maintained by the State Bureau of Identification when an applicant has had no active credential for 5 years. An applicant may renew a credential after that applicant's fingerprints have been removed from the fingerprint file upon submitting again to fingerprinting.
 
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the Commissioner of Education to allow access to criminal history record information to entities providing document management to the Department of Education.
It authorizes the Commissioner of Education to remove electronic and physical fingerprint records in the fingerprint file maintained by the Department of Public Safety, State Bureau of Identification when the applicant for a department credential has not had an active credential for a period of 5 years.