Criminal History Access Act of 2026

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCHMIDT. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 8352) to authorize peace officer standards and training agencies to access criminal history records, and for other purposes, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 8352

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Criminal History Access Act of 2026''. SEC. 2. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION.

(a) Attorney General Duties.--Section 534 of title 28, United States Code, is amended--

(1) in subsection (a)(4), by amending to read as follows:

``(4) exchange such records and information with, and for the official use of, authorized officials of the Federal Government, including the United States Sentencing Commission, the States, including State sentencing commissions and peace officer standards and training agencies, Indian tribes, cities, and penal and other institutions; and'';

(2) in subsection (e)--

(A) by striking ``section, the term'' and inserting the following: ``section--

``(1) the term'';

(B) by striking ``(1) railroad'' and inserting the following:

``(A) railroad'';

(C) by striking ``(2) police'' and inserting the following:

``(B) police'';

(D) by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and

(E) by adding at the end the following:

``(2) the term `peace officer standards and training agency' means an agency of a State with the statutory authority under State law to set standards for the hiring, training, ethical conduct, and retention of the law enforcement officers of the State through certification, licensing, or other similar qualification process; and

``(3) the term `State' means each of the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any territory or possession of the United States.''.

(b) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall amend part 20 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, as necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCHMIDT. 8352.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 8352 is a commonsense and bipartisan bill that fixes a critical flaw in the Federal statute.

State peace officer standards and training agencies, or POSTs, are responsible for certifying, licensing, and overseeing law enforcement officers in their respective jurisdictions. All 50 States have some form of a POST agency, although they go by different names.

More than 50,000 individuals apply each year for law enforcement positions across the United States, and local, county, State, and Tribal agencies submit these applicants to their respective State POST agencies for certification.

It is our expectation that each of those men and women would be a person of integrity and capable of upholding the position of public trust, but we shouldn't just take an applicant's word for it. As President Reagan might have said: ``Trust, but verify.''

Applicants voluntarily consent in writing to these background checks when applying for employment to perform the duties of a law enforcement officer, but current Federal law does not give POST agencies full access to criminal history records contained within the FBI's CJIS system. This can result in POST agencies having incomplete records when deciding whether to certify a candidate for employment as law enforcement.

This unnecessary barrier has resulted in candidates with disqualifying convictions slipping through the cracks.

My own State of Kansas is currently dealing with an issue of an officer with a disqualifying conviction who was hired by an agency without performing the mandatory background criminal history check. Since Kansas C-POST does not have the authority to run its own criminal histories, it has to rely on the hiring agency's verification that the applicant has met all the minimum requirements. That officer has been working for more than 18 months with a disqualifying conviction.

Giving POST agencies this access is a commonsense step that strengthens accountability and helps keep communities safe by preventing individuals with disqualifying criminal history records from entering or remaining in the profession.

I thank Chairman Jordan and my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee for unanimously supporting this bill during our committee markup last month. I thank my colleague, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Ross), for her leadership in making this a bipartisan partnership and effort, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCHMIDT. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCHMIDT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, this week across America we honor the brave men and women in law enforcement who work every day to protect and serve the American public. In particular, we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, whom we recognized in a resolution on this floor just a few minutes ago.

A few weeks ago, I was honored to speak to the 355th Basic Training Class of the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center which provides basic training and continuation education for most of the law enforcement officers in our State.

The auditorium at the training center where the graduation ceremony is held is appropriately named Integrity Auditorium. Each graduate is presented with a challenge coin that bears the phrase: ``Integrity is the basis for community trust.''

This bill is about ensuring that all law enforcement officers across our country are held to that standard of integrity and that disqualifying prior criminal convictions are properly disclosed to the appropriate State licensing agencies.

I want to thank the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training for bringing this issue to our attention. I want to thank my colleague and friend Ms. Ross of North Carolina for joining me in introducing this important bipartisan bill.

Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation, and, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source