Bill > HB6401

This bill amends the Michigan Public Health Code to modify the criminal history background check requirements for individuals seeking employment, independent contracts, or clinical privileges at "covered facilities," which are defined as healthcare facilities like nursing homes, hospices, and homes for the aged where workers have direct access to patients or residents. Specifically, the legislation updates the waiting periods and disqualifying offenses that bar an individual from working in these facilities, reducing the waiting period for certain non-violent felonies from 15 years to 10 years and shortening the look-back window for specific misdemeanors from 10 years to 5 years, while also adding new misdemeanor categories—such as home invasion and embezzlement—to the disqualifying list. Furthermore, the bill outlines procedures for conditional employment while background checks are pending, requires ongoing reporting by employees if they are arraigned or convicted of disqualifying crimes, mandates fingerprint storage by the Michigan Department of State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for automatic updates on subsequent criminal activity, and establishes penalties for facilities or individuals that violate these screening and confidentiality provisions.