Definitions

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Education
  4. Early Care and Learning
  5. Background Checks
  6. Definitions

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As used in this article, the term:

  1. "Comprehensive records check determination" means a satisfactory or unsatisfactory determination by the department, based upon a Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint check, a search of the National Crime Information Center's National Sex Offender Registry, and a search of the following registries, repositories, or data bases in the state where the actual or potential employee or director resides and in each state where such individual resided during the preceding five years: criminal registry or repository, with the use of fingerprints being required in the state where the individual resides and optional in other states; state sex offender registry or repository; and state based child abuse and neglect registry and data base.
  2. "Conviction" means a finding or verdict of guilty or a plea of guilty, regardless of whether an appeal of the conviction has been sought.
  3. "Crime" means:
    1. Any felony;
    2. A violation of Code Section 16-5-23 when the victim is a minor;
    3. A violation of Code Section 16-5-23.1 when the victim is a minor;
    4. A violation of Code Section 16-12-1;
    5. A violation of Chapter 6 of Title 16;
    6. A violation of Code Section 16-4-1;
    7. A violation of Code Section 16-5-29;
    8. A violation of Code Section 16-5-60 when the victim is a minor;
    9. A violation of Code Section 16-5-70;
    10. A violation of Code Section 16-12-1.1;
    11. A violation of Code Section 16-12-100, 16-12-100.1, 16-12-100.2, or 16-12-100.3;
    12. A violation of Code Section 40-6-391 when a child is endangered;
    13. A violation of Code Section 19-7-5; or
    14. Any other offenses committed in another jurisdiction which, if committed in this state, would be one of the enumerated crimes listed in this paragraph.
  4. "Criminal record" means:
    1. Conviction of a crime;
    2. Arrest, charge, and sentencing for a crime where:
      1. A plea of nolo contendere was entered to the charge;
      2. First offender treatment without adjudication of guilt pursuant to the charge was granted; provided, however, that this division shall not apply to a violation of Chapter 13 of Title 16, relating to controlled substances, or any other offense committed in another jurisdiction which, if it were committed in this state, would be a violation of Chapter 13 of Title 16 if such violation or offense constituted only simple possession; or
      3. Adjudication or sentence was otherwise withheld or not entered on the charge; provided, however, that this division shall not apply to a violation of Chapter 13 of Title 16, relating to controlled substances, or any other offense committed in another jurisdiction which, if it were committed in this state, would be a violation of Chapter 13 of Title 16 if such violation or offense constituted only simple possession; or
    3. Arrest and being charged for a crime if the charge is pending, unless the time for prosecuting such crime has expired pursuant to Chapter 3 of Title 17.
  5. "Director" means the on-site manager of a facility, designated by the legal owner, who is responsible for the supervision, operation, and maintenance of an early care and education program and meets the minimum qualifications as determined by the department.
  6. "Employee" means any person, other than a director, who is compensated by an early care and education program; or who cares for, supervises, or has unsupervised access to children at the facility; or who is 17 years of age or older and resides at the facility; or who, with or without compensation, performs duties or services that benefit the early care and education program which involve personal contact between that person and any child being cared for by the early care and education program; however, a parent or legal guardian of a child in care shall not be considered an employee unless such parent or legal guardian is deemed an employee by the early care and education program or either resides at the early care and education program or is compensated in any fashion by the early care and education program except through appropriate state or federal funds.
  7. "Employment history" means a record of where a person has worked for the past ten years.
  8. "Facility" means an early care and education program's real property at which children are received for care.
  9. "Fingerprint" means an inked fingerprint card or an electronic image of a person's fingerprint.
  10. "Fingerprint records check determination" means a satisfactory or unsatisfactory determination by the department based upon fingerprint based national criminal history record information.
  11. "GCIC" means the Georgia Crime Information Center established under Article 2 of Chapter 3 of Title 35.
  12. "GCIC information" means criminal history record information, as defined in Code Section 35-3-30.
  13. "Provisional employee" means an individual other than a director whose duties involve personal contact between that person and any child being cared for at the facility and who is hired for a limited period of time.
  14. "Records check application" means a document created by the department to be completed and submitted to the department by every actual and potential director and employee that indicates such information as the department deems appropriate and which authorizes the department to receive any sex offender registry, child abuse and neglect registry, and criminal history record information pertaining to such individual from any local, state, or national agency or appropriate jurisdiction and render a fingerprint or comprehensive records check determination.
  15. "Satisfactory determination" means a written declaration that a person for whom a fingerprint or comprehensive records check determination was performed was found to have no criminal record.
  16. "Unsatisfactory determination" means a written declaration that a person for whom a fingerprint or comprehensive records check determination was performed was found to have a criminal record.

(Code 1981, §20-1A-30, enacted by Ga. L. 2004, p. 645, § 1; Ga. L. 2013, p. 135, § 7/HB 354; Ga. L. 2013, p. 285, § 2/HB 350; Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 4-31/HB 242; Ga. L. 2014, p. 866, § 20/SB 340; Ga. L. 2015, p. 965, § 2/HB 401; Ga. L. 2018, p. 1101, § 2/HB 494; Ga. L. 2019, p. 1056, § 20/SB 52.)

The 2014 amendment, effective April 29, 2014, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, deleted ", relating to battery," preceding "when the victim" in subparagraph (3)(C).

The 2015 amendment, effective January 1, 2016, deleted former paragraph (1) which read: " 'Center' means a group day care home, family day care home, or child care learning center which is allowed to operate or is required to be licensed, commissioned, or registered under Article 1 of this chapter."; redesignated former paragraphs (2) through (12) as present paragraphs (1) through (11), respectively; substituted "an early care and education program" for "the center" in paragraph (4); in paragraph (5), substituted "an early care and education program to perform" for "a center to perform at any of the center's facilities", twice substituted "early care and education program" for "center" and added "; however, a parent or legal guardian of a child in care shall not be considered an employee unless such parent or legal guardian is deemed an employee by the early care and education program or either resides at the early care and education program or is compensated in any fashion by the early care and education program except through appropriate state or federal funds" to the end; substituted "an early care and education program's" for "a center's" in paragraph (7); deleted former paragraph (13), which read: " 'License' means the document issued by the department to authorize the center to which it is issued to operate a facility."; redesignated former paragraphs (14) through (18) as present paragraphs (12) through (16), respectively; and, in paragraph (14), deleted ", notarized," following "completed" near the beginning and substituted "early care and education program name and" for "center".

The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, added paragraph (1); redesignated former paragraphs (1) through (11) as present paragraphs (2) through (12), respectively; inserted a comma in paragraph (2); deleted "or" at the end of subparagraph (3)(F); added subparagraphs (3)(G) through (3)(M); redesignated former subparagraph (3)(G) as present subparagraph (3)(N); in paragraph (5), added a comma following "facility" and "legal owner" near the middle; in paragraph (6), near the middle, substituted "who is compensated by an early care and education program; or who cares for, supervises, or has unsupervised access to children at the facility; or who is 17 years of age or older and resides at the facility; or who, with or without compensation, performs duties or services that benefit" for "who is 17 years of age or older and is employed by an early care and education program to perform any duties which involve personal contact between that person and any child being cared for at the facility and also includes any adult person who resides at the facility or who, with or without compensation, performs duties for"; deleted former paragraph (12), which read: " 'Preliminary records check determination' means a satisfactory or unsatisfactory determination by the director based only upon a comparison of GCIC information obtained solely from a law enforcement agency within the state with other than fingerprint information regarding the person upon whom the records check is being performed for purposes of this article."; substituted "time" for "employment" at the end of paragraph (13); substituted the present provisions of paragraph (14) for the former provisions, which read: " 'Records check application' means a document created by the department to be completed and submitted to the department by every actual and potential director and employee that indicates such director's name, early care and education program name and type, and such other information as the department deems appropriate and which authorizes the department to receive and render a fingerprint records check determination pursuant to any criminal history record information pertaining to such individual from any local, state, or national criminal justice or law enforcement agency."; and substituted "fingerprint or comprehensive" for "preliminary or fingerprint" in paragraphs (15) and (16).

The 2019 amendment, effective May 12, 2019, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted "fingerprint based" for "fingerprint-based" in paragraph (10).

Code Commission notes.

- Pursuant to Code Section28-9-3, in 2013, the amendment to paragraph (3) of this Code section by Ga. L. 2013, p. 285/HB 350, § 2, was treated as impliedly repealed and superseded by Ga. L. 2013, p. 294/HB 242, § 4-31, due to irreconcilable conflict. See County of Butts v. Strahan, 151 Ga. 417 (1921); Keener v. McDougall, 232 Ga. 273 (1974), and Ga. L. 2013, p. 141, § 54(d)/HB 79.


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