HB 2730 Arizona House · 57th Legislature - First Regular Session

fingerprinting; personnel; committed youth; contact.

HB 2730 requires fingerprinting and criminal history checks for all employees, contractors, volunteers, and visitors with direct contact (unsupervised or supervised) with "committed youth" in Arizona's secure care facilities under state jurisdiction. It mandates these checks within 7-10 days of hire or contact, conditioning employment and facility access on clearance. Individuals with certain disqualifying offenses - including sexual abuse, murder, violent crimes, drug trafficking, or child exploitation - face immediate termination from roles involving direct youth contact, though "good cause" exceptions may apply. Contracts with service providers can be canceled if these requirements aren't met, aiming to enhance safety for youth in state custody.

Issues: ✓ Criminal Justice

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Mar 2025

House Passage

Mar 2025

Senate Passage

May 2025

Signed into Law

May 2025

Introduced Feb 10, 2025 Signed May 13, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

House Engrossed Version → Chaptered Version · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill was formally enacted into law after being approved by the Governor on May 13, 2025. The changes primarily involve formatting and organizational structure rather than substantive policy. The core requirements for fingerprinting, criminal history checks, and employment restrictions for personnel working with committed youth remain the same, though some text was cleaned up to remove redundant phrases and improve readability.

Scope change

No substantive change to the scope or applicability of the bill. The law continues to apply to employees, contractors, volunteers, and visitors who have direct contact with committed youth in Arizona's Department of Juvenile Corrections facilities.

TECHNICAL

Removed redundant and conflicting text that appeared in the House version, such as duplicate subsection labels and contradictory phrasing about employment conditions.

Standardized formatting of the statute text, including proper capitalization and removal of placeholder text like '1...1' and '1[...]1' that indicated amendments.

Added the official chapter designation (Chapter 210) and Governor approval date to finalize the bill as law.

Deleted repetitive phrases like 'EACH EMPLOYEE' and 'ANY LICENSEE' that appeared in the House version but were unnecessary in the final enacted text.

DEFINITION

Minor text cleanup in definitions section to improve clarity, though the actual definitions of 'direct contact,' 'employee,' 'supervised,' and 'unsupervised' remain unchanged.

Introduced Version → House Engrossed Version · 7 edits · May 6, 2025

MODERATE

This bill was amended to clarify and expand fingerprinting and criminal background check requirements for employees, contractors, and volunteers working with committed youth in Arizona's juvenile corrections system. The changes add new criminal offenses that require disqualification from employment, clarify exemptions for medical personnel, and strengthen the director's authority to grant exceptions for rehabilitated individuals with certain convictions.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to include more specific criminal offenses that disqualify individuals from working with committed youth, and clarified exemptions for hospital employees and medical personnel providing services outside secure facilities.

REQUIREMENT

Added a new subsection requiring fingerprint clearance cards for employees with direct contact outside secure care facilities, with a seven-day submission deadline.

Expanded the list of criminal offenses in subsection G from 23 items to include specific offenses like kidnapping, arson, sexual assault, sexual exploitation of minors, drug-related felonies, burglary, robbery, child abuse, sexual conduct with minors, molestation, manslaughter, assault, and domestic violence.

EXEMPTIONS

Added new exemption for hospital employees, licensed medical personnel, and volunteers providing services to juveniles in health care facilities outside secure care facilities under direct visual supervision.

ELIGIBILITY

Modified the director's authority to allow supervised contact for rehabilitated individuals with certain felony convictions, now including specific paragraphs 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 22, and 23.

ENFORCEMENT

Added requirement for the department to notify the Department of Public Safety when a person with a valid fingerprint clearance card is arrested for offenses listed in section 41-1758.03 or falsifies employment application information.

TIMELINE

Modified fingerprint submission timeline from 'within seven days' to 'within seven ten days' after employment, creating ambiguity in the deadline.

TECHNICAL

Corrected formatting errors and removed inconsistent markup from the original introduced version to create a cleaner, more readable statute.

Floor votes · Senate May 6, 2025 · House Mar 4, 2025

How they voted

28–0

Passed · 2 other

Total votes 30

May 6, 2025

D Democratic13

11 Yea 2

84% Yea

R Republican17

17 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

May 13, 2025

Signed into law

Signed by Governor

executive

May 6, 2025

Upper · Passed

PASSED

upper

Mar 19, 2025

Upper · Passed

upper

Mar 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

PASSED

lower

Feb 27, 2025

Lower · Passed

DPA

lower

Feb 17, 2025

Lower · Passed

DPA

lower

1 primary · 4 co-sponsors