The Missouri House of Representatives overwhelming defeated the bill containing an increase to $7 for driver records. The Senate previously passed a different version of the bill. The Senate must approve the House bill or the two groups need to compromise by the end of legislation session.
Missouri recently raised their fees for driver license and motor vehicle records from $1.25 to $7 per record. Members of the state legislature, press and other groups are challenging the increase. The fees were increased to cover the cost of a new 50 million computer system. The system is being designed by BearingPoint who will receive $1 out of each $7 fee.
The state's Department of Revenue Director Omar Davis has reportedly stated the records "weren't public records" and opted to bypassed the legislature and Sunshine Laws when raising the fee.
Click here for more information.
Analysts International Corp, VisionWare and the University of Alabama are combining efforts to create a new Criminal Records Index Master for the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center (ACJIC). We have no information as far as when the system will be available.
ADP Employer Services has released its annual Screening Index, a yearly evaluation of employment screening and hiring trends. The index reports on statistics pulled from nearly 5.8 million background checks. Two interesting stats include-
View ADP’s Screening Index
A Rhode Island House committee has approved a bill to remove thousands of crimes from the public record. If approved, thousands of convicted criminals will be able to tell state licensing boards and prospective employers that they have never been convicted of a crime. The bill is heading to the full house for a vote. View bill folder. View Providence Journal newspaper article.
According to a recent report by ChoicePoint, every day at least 144,000 people with criminal records seek employment or volunteer opportunities with non-profit organizations. Common offenses include larceny, writing bad checks, drug possession, assault, burglary, sex-related crimes, disorderly conduct and forgery. 5% of applications had prior convictions. The statistics are compiled from data from 2002 – 2007. Click Here to read the report.
Kroll publishes an annual Hit Ratio Report which provides key statistics for seven common employment screening criteria. It also provides detailed analyses of industry-specific hit ratios for 13 industries. The report is created from a sample of Kroll’s Background Screening clients across a variety of industries and company sizes.
Notable statistics from this years report include an increase hit ratio of criminal record convictions from 9.1% in 2006 to 9.5% in 2007. Construction, automotive and the retail industry had the highest criminal record hit ratios. Education had the lowest.
To read the report visit www.kroll.com/about/library/hit_ratio.
Nebraska's governor signed into law LB 851 which revises § 9-506(b) effective July, 2008. This revision gives UCC filers the ability to file a statement with only the correct last name of the debtor if the debtor is an individual. The first name and middle initial can be shown on the filing as initials, nicknames, or even as a typo. There is no incentive for accuracy. The intent of the new law is to provide secured parties with greater certainty that errors or omissions on an indvidual's debtor's first and/or middle initial would not make a financing statement seriously misleading.
However, this means that now a searcher using reasonable due diligence must search be using only under the last name (this aspect has not changed) and then review all hits to determine the proper subject of the search. The first names and middle intials will now be harder to use for a match. This will be especially troublesome for searching debtors with common last names. For example according to The UCC Filing Flash (www.ernstpublishing.com), there are over 2,600 unique active records on the Nebraska UCC search web page under the last name Johnson.
Per the UCC Filing Flash "Under the provision as written you may not conduct a § 9-503(a) compliant search by entering any more than the last name. In other other words, a search for 'John Smith' does not meet the criteria for safe harbor any longer.
The bottom line is that industry people are recommending that lenders consider not lending to anyone with a common last name until the Nebraska legislature reverses this deficiency.
For more information, visit the state's legislative site at www.unicam.state.ne.us and search using LB 851.
Another newsworthy record access item in Idaho is the new free Driver License Status Check. Requesters input the name including middle initial, DOB and either the DL# or the SSN. The system reports if the license is commercial or non-commercial, and if the license is valid. The web page also allows suspended drivers to reinstate, if eligible.
This is a great monitoring system for employers, insurance companies, and even car rental companies.
Visit https://www.accessidaho.org/secure/itd/reinstatement/index.html
Effective May 1, 2008, Access Idaho, the web portal that provides the gateway to driving records and vehicle records, is raising access fees. The fee for a driving record will increase from $5.50 to $6.00. The fee for a vehicle title or registration record will increase from $5.50 to $6.00 as well. Access Idaho also provides online access to the UCC index, but those fees will remain the same.
All users must be pre-approved to have access to these premium services. For more information about Access Idaho's premium services, visit www.accessidaho.org/subscriber/.
Also pending is a fee increase from $5.50 to $6.24 that Idaho drivers pay to receive their own driving record online. Use of a credit card is required for this service.
