New Background Check Law Passed in California

Background checks(Click here) can save employers in all industries from many problems, but they are particularly important in certain lines of work. Employees that will be responsible for the well being of others have a larger chance of effecting the lives and health of others and, therefore, should always be subject to a pre-employment background check.

Because of similar reasoning, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California recently passed a bill that requires the state's 70,000 emergency medical technicians to be the subjects of mandatory criminal background checks. Last year he vetoed similar legislation after saying that he disapproved over changes that were made to the bill that made it possible to keep secret certain details about the misbehavior of these professionals.

The Assembly bill that Schwarzenegger has agreed to stands to bring the licensing and certification system in California up to date. In 2007 a variety of problems were discovered with the system during the Bee investigation.

"EMTs provide vital services that help Californians in their time of need, and because of the critical role they play, it is important to that we have a universal statewide standard that will prevent those who are unqualified or have a past criminal history of becoming EMTs," said Schwarzenegger in a statement put out by his office.

"By signing these bills into law, we are increasing safety and accountability within the emergency medical services field and ensuring that Californians have the best EMTs available at any given moment," he said.

The legislation, Assembly Bill 2917, which made the mandatory background checks possible, was originally introduced by Assemblyman Alberto Torrico. In addition to the background checks, the bill also makes it where EMTs have to be certified in the county that they will be working in and will create a statewide EMT registry.

This is expected to help to stop EMTs who have criminal records or negative employment histories from trying to obtain certification in different counties in hopes of finding a weak spot. The Bee investigation found that this problem had been occurring for some time.

The registry will make it possible to track EMTs throughout California. In order to pay for this, EMT fees will be raised. According to Torrico, the statewide system will make it possible to create a standards for certification, disciplinary orders and conditions of probation for EMTs that have gotten themselves into trouble.

In addition to this, EMT employers will now be able to check to see if an applicant has been subject to a background check already and if they have had past actions against either their certification or license.