Arkansas Code
Subchapter 3 - Licensing
§ 17-87-312. Criminal background checks

(a)
(1) Each first-time applicant for a license issued by the Arkansas State Board of Nursing shall apply to the Identification Bureau of the Division of Arkansas State Police for a state and national criminal background check, to be conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(2) At the time a person applies to an Arkansas nursing educational program, the program shall notify the applicant in writing of the provisions and requirements of this section.

(b) The check shall conform to the applicable federal standards and shall include the taking of fingerprints.
(c) The applicant shall sign a release of information to the board and shall be responsible to the Division of Arkansas State Police for the payment of any fee associated with the criminal background check.
(d) Upon completion of the criminal background check, the Identification Bureau of the Division of Arkansas State Police shall forward to the board all releasable information obtained concerning the applicant.
(e) For purposes of this section, the board shall follow the licensing restrictions based on criminal records under § 17-3-102.
(f)
(1) The board may issue a nonrenewable temporary permit for licensure to a first-time applicant pending the results of the criminal background check.
(2) The permit shall be valid for no more than six (6) months.

(g)
(1) Any information received by the board from the Identification Bureau of the Division of Arkansas State Police under this section shall not be available for examination except by:
(A) The affected applicant for licensure or his or her authorized representative; or
(B) The person whose license is subject to revocation or his or her authorized representative.

(2) No record, file, or document shall be removed from the custody of the Division of Arkansas State Police.

(h) Any information made available to the affected applicant for licensure or the person whose license is subject to revocation shall be information pertaining to that person only.
(i) Rights of privilege and confidentiality established in this section shall not extend to any document created for purposes other than this background check.
(j) The board shall adopt the necessary rules to fully implement the provisions of this section.
(k)
(1) The board may participate at the state and federal level in programs that provide notification of an arrest subsequent to an initial background check that is conducted through available governmental systems.
(2) The board may submit an applicant's fingerprints to the federal Next Generation Identification system.
(3) The fingerprints may be searched by future submissions to the Next Generation Identification system, including latent fingerprint searches.
(4) An applicant enrolled in the Next Generation Identification system is not required to re-fingerprint when a subsequent request for a state or federal criminal history background check is required if:
(A) A legible set of the applicant's fingerprints is obtained when the applicant enrolls in the Next Generation Identification system; and
(B) The applicant is subject to the Rap Back service of the Next Generation Identification system.

(l) The Identification Bureau of the Division of Arkansas State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation may maintain fingerprints in the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System.