"An Act relating to applications, qualifications, and criminal history and background checks for a certificate of fitness for explosives handlers; and providing for an effective date. "

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development has authority under AS 08.52.010-100 to issue a license known as a certificate of fitness to work with explosives in Alaska. The department currently requires explosive handler license applicants to submit to a criminal background check within Alaska; however, this check does not require finger prints to verify proper identification and does not capture criminal acts the applicant committed in other states. To help ensure that an explosive handler's license is not issued to an individual that may cause a national security threat or a threat to Alaskans, it is necessary to have a statutory requirement for a fingerprint based nationwide background check.

The Alaska Department of Public Safety is not authorized to provide a nationwide fingerprint based criminal background check for licensing purposes, unless it is required by state or federal law. This bill will provide the necessary statutory authority for the Alaska Department of Public Safety to perform a fingerprint based nationwide criminal history search and to provide the data to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

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