(a) As used in this section, “applicant” means a person who must apply to the Identification Bureau of the Department of Arkansas State Police for a statewide and nationwide criminal records check as a condition for a license issued by the State Board of Education or as a condition for employment by an educational entity.
(b) An educational entity that is initiating a criminal records check under § 6-17-410, § 6-17-411, § 6-17-414, or § 6-17-421 shall subscribe to and initiate both the state and federal criminal records check on the Department of Arkansas State Police online system.
(c) An individual who initiates the criminal records check shall use the online system approved by the Department of Education.
(d) Fingerprints shall be taken by any fingerprinting method approved by the Department of Arkansas State Police.
(e) In any instance where a legible set of fingerprints, as determined by the Identification Bureau of the Department of Arkansas State Police, cannot be obtained from an applicant after a minimum of two (2) attempts, the Department of Education or the educational entity shall determine eligibility for licensure or employment based on the criteria established by rules promulgated by the state board.
(f)
(1) The state may participate at the state and federal level in programs that provide notification of an arrest subsequent to an initial background check that is conducted through available governmental systems.
(2) The state may submit an applicant's fingerprints to the federal Next Generation Identification system.
(3) The fingerprints may be searched by future submissions to the Next Generation Identification system, including latent fingerprint searches.
(4) An applicant enrolled in the Next Generation Identification system is not required to re-fingerprint when a subsequent request for a state or federal criminal history background check is required if:
(A) A legible set of the applicant's fingerprints are obtained when the applicant enrolls in the Next Generation Identification system; and
(B) The applicant is subject to the Rap Back service of the Next Generation Identification system.
(g) The Identification Bureau of the Department of Arkansas State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation may maintain fingerprints in the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System.