WHEREAS, Today's workforce is highly mobile and recruitment and retention of health care workers for long-term care facilities is getting more difficult; and

WHEREAS, The majority of consumers of long-term care are frail elders and persons with disabilities who are more vulnerable than the population at large and at greater risk of abuse and exploitation; and

WHEREAS, Government has an obligation to assist employers in identifying potential employees with criminal histories that would warrant them unqualified to work with a vulnerable long-term care population; and

WHEREAS, A national criminal background check using fingerprinting is the only means to obtain information about an individual's criminal history in other states; and

WHEREAS, Both the state and federal governments have a responsibility and interest in promoting quality long-term care including a fully qualified and adequately trained workforce; and

WHEREAS, Rhode Island currently requires a state only criminal background check for long-term care workers and budget constraints have prevented Rhode Island from mandating a national criminal background check which would require the fingerprinting of hundreds of long-term care workers; and

WHEREAS, The creation of a federally-funded mandatory nationwide criminal background check program for long-term care workers and a national registry of persons convicted of patient and resident abuse will help protect our vulnerable long-term care population and give assurances to families that persons with criminal histories in other states are prevented from working in Rhode Island long-term care facilities and services; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations hereby requests that the Congress of the United States enact legislation to mandate and fund a federal nationwide criminal background check program for long-term care and to create a nationwide registry of persons convicted of patient/resident abuse; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is authorized and directed to transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the members of the Rhode Island delegation to the Congress of the United States.