Today's blog contains information about two recent background screening stories in the news. Read on to find out about new 'ban the box" legislation in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as a question about the reliability of servers that house the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's criminal history records.

"Ban the Box" Legislation Passes Unanimously in Louisville, KY

On March 13, 2014, the Louisville, KY Metro Council voted unanimously to pass a “ban the box” ordinance. The new law will apply to city job applications and according to WFPL news, it will also apply to “vendors that do more than $2,500 in business with the city.” There are exceptions, which include “jobs involving confidential information, handling more than $500 in financial transactions, unsupervised access to children, the elderly and residential homes and law enforcement duties.”

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) also released a press release about the new Louisville law as it pertains to the growing number of municipalities and states that have passed “ban the box” legislation. Recent policy changes have taken place in Charlotte, NC; Indianapolis, IN; Baltimore, MD, and San Francisco, CA.

Corporate Screening will continue to update you with news about “ban the box” legislation.

Is the Georgia Background System “Out of Date?”

In a recent article published in the Newnan Times-Herald in Georgia, the reliability of servers at the system that houses Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) criminal history records has been called into question. The article reports that the system works well “about 98 percent of the time.” But delays arise when the system is down, which impact people throughout the state – from law enforcement to those needing background checks.

The Georgia Technical Authority runs the system, and according to the article, “The state admits the servers are out of date, calling it an out-of-date, insecure and unreliable IT infrastructure.” And when the system is down, a backlog of requests accumulates, meaning that it can take some time to catch up with those requests.