Are you a Human Resource Director, Board Member or Risk Manager for an organization that provides services for youth in California? Here is a resource page to ensure that you have complied with all aspects of AB 506. Valley Livescan is willing to assist your organization with background compliance requirements.
Religious organizations
Youth sport leagues
K-12 schools
Daycare businesses
Other organizations that serve minors ca ab 506 resource center youth organization background checks
AB506 requires administrators, employees, and regular volunteers of youth service organizations to complete training in child abuse and neglect identification as well as reporting requirements.
Yes. AB506 applies to all organizations whether volunteer, paid, for-profit or not-for-profit. If any volunteers or employees spend more than 16 hours per month or 32 hours per year in direct contact with or supervising those under 19 years of age.
If your organization is like most, you have more than a few questions about how to comply with AB 506! The
following information will guide you as you dive into the Live Scan requirements imposed by AB 506.
STEP 1 – Determine Authorization
The Department of Justice (DOJ) will only approve an organization for Live Scan criminal record checks if it
is authorized to do so by statute; in this case, that statute is California AB 506, which is codified in CA Business and Professions code §18975. We know “youth service organizations” (which includes youth sports organizations, schools, churches and other religious organizations that serve minors) are now required to conduct these criminal record checks by AB 506.
STEP 2 - Apply
You must apply with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to become an authorized applicant agency and receive
an Originating Case Identifier (ORI) number. Find the application for youth organizations here:
https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/crimrec-packet.pdf
The application itself will answer most of your questions about the process. It contains a good deal of
information in addition to the actual application. In particular, the table of contents notes in red letters those
portions of the app which must be submitted and in what order.
Here are some helpful tips for common questions on the application:
o The last question on page 4 says: “Please describe the services your organization provides and the
reason criminal record background checks will be conducted…” An example of a response for your
ministry is: “Pursuant to AB 506/Business and Professions Code section 18975, our
baseball league is considered a youth service organization due to the practices, games and events we offer to minors. Our employees and volunteers supervise and interact with minors, and we are responsible for determining their fitness to do so. To comply, we must submit our employees and regular volunteers to a Live Scan criminal record check.”
o At the top of page 6, check the boxes to request both an ORI and electronic response mail code.
Towards the bottom, check the box to indicate “We request that all responses be sent electronically
to the same secure mailbox.”
o You complete only the top portion of page 8. It will be sent back to you with your assigned information
filled in the rest of the page.
o Complete page 11 so your organization can be billed for the Live Scan fee instead of the applicants you
send paying for the Live Scan service themselves. At the top, check the box to indicate you are a nonprofit
organization.
o Page 21 is a Live Scan request for the person who will serve as your custodian of records. Don’t turn
this in with your application; rather, AFTER your application is approved by the DOJ, your custodian of
records will take this with them to be Live Scanned.
o Complete page 23, which is a request to receive subsequent arrest notifications for those individuals
you have Live Scanned. On the line requesting your ORI, put “application submitted, not received yet.”
See Step 3 below for more info.
o Mail your completed application and proof of non-profit status as stated on page 4 to California
Department of Justice, Applicant Information and Certification Program, P.O. Box 903387,
Sacramento, CA 94203-3870.
For more details, go to https://oag.ca.gov/fingerprints/agencies and scroll down to the section entitled
GETTING AUTHORIZED.
STEP 3 - Subsequent Arrests
Applicant agencies (like your organization) may apply to receive subsequent arrest notifications for your
organization’s employees and volunteers. Good news - the associated fee is waived for non-profit
organizations! If someone you have Live Scanned is arrested in the state of California after you had them Live
Scanned, you will receive notification of their arrest from the DOJ. If you do not receive subsequent arrest
notifications, which is best practice, you should re-Live Scan your people at least annually.
Note: if your organization is already approved for Live Scan but you have not applied for subsequent arrest
notification, you may submit that application separately here:
https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/fingerprints/forms/subarr.pdf
STEP 4 - Wait
This is the easy part... sort of. You can’t send anyone for Live Scanning until you get your approval. Wait for a
written response from the DOJ issuing your ORI. Ordinarily the process takes 4-6 weeks. We recommend following up on your app by emailing appagencyquestions@doj.ca.gov if you haven’t received a response after 8 weeks.
Once you have been approved and receive your ORI, you may begin sending applicants, employees, and
volunteers to be fingerprinted.
STEP 1 - Send an individual to get Live ScannedContact Valley Livescan to schedule an on-site Live Scan session for multiple people at the beginning of each season.STEP 2 – Retrieve the resultsOnce the applicant’s fingerprints are received and processed, the DOJ will respond to you either electronically via a secure mail server or via U.S. mail. While most applicant agencies should receive results electronically from the California DOJ, some must receive reports by U.S. mail in a process that can take a minimum of seven days. As such, please allow a minimum of seven days before making a status inquiry, which may be made by email at appagencyquestions@doj.ca.gov.STEP 3 - Remit the appropriate feesCalifornia and federal criminal record checks are processed for a fee. Some agencies pay the processing feesand others require the applicant to pay at the time they are fingerprinted. If your agency pays theseprocessing fees, you have the option of (1) paying the fees directly to the Live Scan operator, or (2) establishing a billing account at the time of your initial authorization application (see above; step 2 in first section “Setting Up For Live Scan”), in which case the DOJ will invoice your agency for the processing fees.For more information on electronic payments, visit https://oag.ca.gov/fingerprints/agencies and scroll downto the section titled “Remit the appropriate fees.”
(d) Before writing liability insurance for a youth service organization in this state, an insurer may request information demonstrating compliance with this section from the youth service organization as a part of the insurer's loss control program.
(e) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Regular volunteer" means a volunteer with the youth service organization who is 18 years of age or older and who has direct contact with, or supervision of, children for more than 16 hours per month or 32 hours per year.
(2) "Youth service organization" means an organization that employs or utilizes the services of persons who, due to their relationship with the organization, are mandated reporters pursuant to paragraph (7) of subdivision (a) of Section 11165.7 of the Penal Code.