School volunteers/conviction

AN ACT Relating to parental involvement through volunteering in 1
schools after a criminal conviction; amending RCW 28A.320.155 and 2
28A.400.303; and adding a new section to chapter 28A.320 RCW.3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 28A.320 5
RCW to read as follows: 6
(1) When a school performs a records check under RCW 28A.400.303 7
on a parent, the school must comply with the requirements in this 8
subsection. 9
(a) The school must notify applicants for volunteer positions 10
about the process for parents to submit criminal innocence or 11
rehabilitation-related documents. 12
(b) For a parent with one or more criminal convictions who has 13
submitted a criminal innocence or rehabilitation-related document 14
addressing each conviction, the school may not deny the parent's 15
volunteer application based on a criminal conviction if the parent 16
signed a statement indicating that the parent has not been convicted 17
of any crime since the date that the criminal innocence or 18
rehabilitation-related document was issued. 19
(c) For a parent with one or more criminal convictions who has 20
not submitted a criminal innocence or rehabilitation-related document 21
H-0121.2
HOUSE BILL 1189
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Simmons, Ortiz-Self, Macri, Peterson, Davis,
Ormsby, Stonier, and Hill
Prefiled 01/07/25. Read first time 01/13/25. Referred to Committee
on Education.
p. 1 HB 1189
addressing each conviction, the school must complete the following 1
process to determine whether to approve the parent's volunteer 2
application. The school: 3
(i) Must consider the length of time since the commission of the 4
last crime for which the parent was convicted and whether any 5
criminal conviction involved a minor child victim; and6
(ii) May consider: (A) The age of the parent on the date of the 7
commission of the last crime for which the parent was convicted; (B) 8
whether the parent has been approved by a state agency to have 9
unsupervised access to children under 18 years of age or persons with 10
developmental disabilities; or (C) limiting the parent's unsupervised 11
access to children under 18 years of age and to persons with 12
developmental disabilities if this would give the parent the 13
opportunity to have meaningful involvement in the school.14
(d) Within five days of approving or denying the volunteer 15
application of a parent, the school must notify the parent of the 16
school's decision. If denying the application, the school must also 17
state specific reasons for the denial and provide the appeal process 18
under subsection (2) of this section. 19
(2)(a) A parent whose volunteer application has been denied under 20
this section may appeal the decision to the office of the 21
superintendent of public instruction. The appeal process must follow 22
rules established by the superintendent of public instruction.23
(b) The superintendent of public instruction must adopt rules in 24
accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW to establish the appeal process 25
referenced in (a) of this subsection. 26
(3) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this 27
section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.28
(a) "Criminal innocence or rehabilitation-related document" means 29
evidence that a criminal conviction is the subject of: (i) 30
Expungement, pardon, vacation, annulment, certificate of 31
rehabilitation, or other equivalent procedure based on a finding of 32
the rehabilitation of the person convicted; (ii) a pardon, annulment, 33
or other equivalent procedure based on a finding of innocence; or 34
(iii) a certificate of restoration of opportunity under RCW 9.97.020.35
(b) "Parent" means a parent, grandparent, guardian, or legal 36
custodian of a student enrolled at a school. 37
(c) "School" means a school district, educational service 38
district, the Washington center for deaf and hard of hearing youth, 39
the state school for the blind, a federal bureau of Indian affairs-40
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funded school, a charter school established under chapter 28A.710 1
RCW, a school that is the subject of a state-tribal education compact 2
under chapter 28A.715 RCW, or a contractor of one of these entities.3
(d) "Unsupervised" has the same meaning as in RCW 28A.400.303.4
Sec. 2. RCW 28A.320.155 and 1999 c 21 s 1 are each amended to 5
read as follows: 6
(1)(a) If a volunteer alerts a school ((district)) that the 7
volunteer has undergone a criminal records check in accordance with 8
applicable state law, including RCW 10.97.050, 28A.400.303, 9
28A.410.010, or 43.43.830 through 43.43.845, within the two years 10
before the time the volunteer is volunteering in the school, then the 11
school may request that the volunteer furnish the school with a copy 12
of the criminal history record information or sign a release to the 13
business, school, organization, criminal justice agency, or juvenile 14
justice or care agency, or other state agency that originally 15
obtained the criminal history record information to permit the record 16
information to be shared with the school. Once the school requests 17
the information from the business, school, organization, or agency 18
the information shall be furnished to the school. Any business, 19
school, organization, agency, or its employee or official that shares 20
the criminal history record information with the requesting school in 21
accordance with this section is immune from criminal and civil 22
liability for dissemination of the information. 23
(b) If the criminal history record information is shared, the 24
school must require the volunteer to sign a disclosure statement 25
indicating that there has been no conviction since the completion 26
date of the most recent criminal background inquiry.27
(2) For the purposes of this section, "school" has the same 28
meaning as in section 1 of this act.29
Sec. 3. RCW 28A.400.303 and 2020 c 22 s 1 are each amended to 30
read as follows: 31
(1)(a) School districts, educational service districts, the 32
Washington center for deaf and hard of hearing youth, the state 33
school for the blind, the office of the superintendent of public 34
instruction, and their contractors shall require a record check 35
through the Washington state patrol criminal identification system 36
under RCW 43.43.830 through 43.43.834, 10.97.030, and 10.97.050 and 37
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through the federal bureau of investigation criminal justice 1
information systems before hiring the following employees:2
(i) Employees who will have regularly scheduled unsupervised 3
access to children or persons with developmental disabilities; and4
(ii) Employees who receive criminal history record information or 5
personally identifiable information from the record check.6
(b) A record check under this section must include a fingerprint 7
check using a complete Washington state criminal identification 8
fingerprint card. 9
(c) The requesting entity may provide a copy of the record report 10
to the applicant at the applicant's request. 11
(d) When necessary, applicants for employment may be employed on 12
a conditional basis pending completion of the record check.13
(e) If the applicant for employment has had a record check within 14
the previous two years, the district, the Washington center for deaf 15
and hard of hearing youth, the state school for the blind, the office 16
of the superintendent of public instruction, or contractor may waive 17
the requirement. 18
(f) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, the 19
school district, pursuant to chapter 41.59 or 41.56 RCW, the 20
Washington center for deaf and hard of hearing youth, the state 21
school for the blind, the office of the superintendent of public 22
instruction, or contractor hiring the employee shall determine who 23
shall pay costs associated with the record check. 24
(2) Federal bureau of Indian affairs-funded schools may use the 25
process in subsection (1)(a) of this section to perform record checks 26
for their employees and applicants for employment.27
(3)(a) School districts, educational service districts, the 28
Washington center for deaf and hard of hearing youth, the state 29
school for the blind, federal bureau of Indian affairs-funded 30
schools, charter schools established under chapter 28A.710 RCW, 31
schools that are the subject of a state-tribal education compact 32
under chapter 28A.715 RCW, and their contractors may use the process 33
in subsection (1)(a) of this section to perform record checks for any 34
prospective volunteer who will have regularly scheduled unsupervised 35
access to children under ((eighteen)) 18 years of age or persons with 36
developmental disabilities, during the course of his or her 37
involvement with the school or organization under circumstances where 38
access will or may involve the following: 39
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(i) Groups of five or fewer children under ((twelve)) 12 years of 1
age; 2
(ii) Groups of three or fewer children between ((twelve)) 12 and 3
((eighteen)) 18 years of age; or 4
(iii) Persons with developmental disabilities. 5
(b) When the prospective volunteer is a parent, grandparent, 6
guardian, or legal custodian of a student enrolled at one of the 7
entities described in (a) of this subsection, the entity must meet 8
the requirements of section 1 of this act.9
(c) For purposes of (a) of this subsection, "unsupervised" means 10
not in the presence of: 11
(i) Another employee or volunteer from the same school or 12
organization; or 13
(ii) Any relative or guardian of any of the children or persons 14
with developmental disabilities to which the prospective employee or 15
volunteer has access during the course of his or her involvement with 16
the school or organization. 17
(4) Individuals who hold a valid portable background check 18
clearance card issued by the department of children, youth, and 19
families consistent with RCW 43.216.270 can meet the requirements in 20
subsection (1) of this section by providing a true and accurate copy 21
of their Washington state patrol and federal bureau of investigation 22
background report results to the office of the superintendent of 23
public instruction. 24
(5) The cost of record checks must include: The fees established 25
by the Washington state patrol and the federal bureau of 26
investigation for the criminal history background checks; a fee paid 27
to the superintendent of public instruction for the cost of 28
administering this section and RCW 28A.195.080 and 28A.410.010; and 29
other applicable fees for obtaining the fingerprints.30
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