Auditor: State agency background checks vary widely

Some state officials call for uniform written policies.

Whether state employees are screened for criminal history — and how those background checks are conducted — varies widely from agency to agency, according to a new report by State Auditor John Keel.

Most state agencies and higher education institutions say they conduct some kind of background checks, Keel wrote, but he recommended that they improve their policies and establish written procedures.

Of the 157 agencies and institutions Keel surveyed, 31 that are permitted to access criminal histories said they do not always do so. Two dozen that conduct checks — including the state auditor's office itself — had no written policies for them, the report said.

And agencies differ on how they apply the more than 100 Texas laws that grant them access to state criminal records, Keel reported.

"We just want every agency to have the same format," said state Rep. Fred Brown, R-Bryan, who leads a legislative budget-writing panel that was instrumental in mandating the auditor's report. "We want to know the background; if there's any criminal background, that's the most important thing."

State agencies may perform background checks that range from a $1 Department of Public Safety name-based search to a $15 DPS fingerprint search to more for a federal fingerprint search.

The Texas Education Agency, which does not include school employees, was among those that did not have a written policy. State law does not permit the agency to do background checks on most of its employees, Deputy Commissioner Adam Jones said, but it plans to propose adding background checks soon for information technology workers.

"They're people who actually have their hands on your technology equipment," he said. "To TEA, that means individually identifiable student records."

The 14-employee Texas State University System (employees of each campus are not considered system employees) was one of the agencies that, despite being authorized to conduct checks, did not do so, the report said.

But Fernando Gomez, vice chancellor and general counsel for the system, said just two employees, Vice Chancellor for Finance Roland Smith and his deputy, have security-sensitive jobs, and they had worked for the state for three decades when they were hired.

"To run a fingerprint check on a 30-year employee just didn't make sense," he said.

Brown said previous state employment shouldn't matter. "It's not that big of an expense to give people peace of mind," he said.

Gov. Rick Perry requires background checks for all his employees but doesn't necessarily think all agencies should do so, spokeswoman Krista Piferrer said.

"If we're to trust state agency heads to set the criteria for filling certain positions, then we ought to trust them to set the standards for background checks," Piferrer said.

cmaclaggan@statesman.com; 445-3548