Home care aid applicant: criminal history.

The Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act requires the State Department of Social Services to license and regulate home care organizations, as defined, and to establish and maintain a registry of registered home care aides and home care aide applicants on the department's internet website. The act requires the department, before approving an individual for registration, to check the individual's criminal history, as specified, and further requires the department to register a home care aide applicant if the applicant is issued a criminal record clearance or granted a criminal record exemption. The act authorizes the department to grant an exemption if the person's criminal history indicates that the person is of good character based on the age, seriousness, and frequency of the conviction or convictions. The department is required to develop regulations to establish the criteria to grant an exemption under these provisions. This bill would prohibit the department from requiring a home care aid applicant to provide a character reference when determining whether to grant a criminal record exemption if the home care aid applicant committed a nonviolent, nonsexual misdemeanor or felony and completed their sentence over 10 years prior to the date of submitting an application pursuant to this section.