In addition to the requirements of § 34-11-6, each applicant for emergency medical technician certification must submit to a state and federal criminal background check. The applicant must submit a full set of the applicant’s fingerprints to the department in a form and manner prescribed by the department. The department shall submit the applicant’s fingerprints to the Division of Criminal Investigation to conduct a criminal background check by the division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The applicant must sign a release of information to the department, and pay any fee charged for the cost of fingerprinting or conducting the background check.

Upon completion of the background check, the division shall deliver to the department all criminal history record information regarding the applicant, and the department shall consider this information in its determination to issue a certification to the applicant. The department may not issue a certification to an applicant before receiving this information. The department may only disseminate an applicant’s information to a person employed by the department.

The department may require any certified emergency medical technician who is the subject of a disciplinary investigation to submit to a state and federal background check. The department may deny the issuance of, suspend, or revoke a certification for failure to submit to or cooperate with a background check.

Source: SL 2022, ch 145, § 2.