Law / United States / 
Colorado
Colorado entities offering non-employment-based educational opportunities: accept a taxpayer identification number or a fingerprint check instead of a social security number for a background check
C.R.S. section 8-2-128.5 (as added by HB 26-1143)
In force since .
A sensitive categories rule binding public and private bodies.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Biometric
What it requires
- If you are an entity (a state institution of higher education, local district college, covered school, hospital or clinic, nonprofit or volunteer organization) that requires an applicant to give a social security number for a background check as a condition of a non-employment-based educational opportunity, such as an unpaid volunteer role, internship, pre-apprenticeship or clinical experience, also accept an individual taxpayer identification number in lieu of it (C.R.S. 8-2-128.5(1)(a), (1)(d)).
- If you are a licensed or certified hospital or a covered school, you need not accept a taxpayer identification number but must accept a fingerprint-based background check in lieu of a social security number (C.R.S. 8-2-128.5(1)(b)).
- Where an applicant declines to give a social security number and the opportunity is with a hospital, a covered school or, for work with a vulnerable population, a state institution of higher education or local district college, the applicant submits to a fingerprint-based criminal history record check; decide whether the applicant or the entity pays its cost, and where the result shows an arrest without a disposition, require a name-based judicial record check (C.R.S. 8-2-128.5(7)(a), (f)).
- Comply with the requirements for employers in section 6-1-1314 when you conduct a fingerprint-based background check of an applicant (C.R.S. 8-2-128.5(6)).
- A third-party vendor that takes an applicant's fingerprints must not keep the applicant's information for more than thirty days (C.R.S. 8-2-128.5(7)(c)).
- You may still require a social security number where state or federal law or rule requires it, a governmental or accreditation organization's mandatory compliance program requires it, a federal or state grant requires it, or a reimbursement or bank account transaction cannot be processed with a taxpayer identification number (C.R.S. 8-2-128.5(2)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
What this law does
An entity that requires an applicant to provide a social security number for a background check as a condition to participate in a non-employment-based educational opportunity must also accept an individual taxpayer identification number in lieu of a social security number.
A state institution of higher education or a local district college that requires a social security number for a background check for a non-employment-based educational opportunity that involves work with a vulnerable population must accept either an individual taxpayer identification number or a fingerprint-based background check, as it determines, in lieu of a social security number.
A licensed or certified hospital or a covered school is not required to accept an individual taxpayer identification number but must accept a fingerprint-based background check in lieu of a social security number.
The section's term entity covers a state institution of higher education, a local district college, a nonprofit organization exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code, a volunteer organization, a covered school, and certain licensed or certified clinics, hospitals, and other health providers.
An entity that conducts a fingerprint-based background check of an applicant for such an opportunity must comply with the requirements for employers described in section 6-1-1314. If an approved third party takes an applicant's fingerprints, third-party vendors may not keep the applicant's information for more than thirty days.
An entity that does not accept a taxpayer identification number or a fingerprint-based background check as the section requires is subject to a civil penalty of two thousand dollars for the first violation and five thousand dollars for each subsequent violation. The attorney general is authorized to enforce the section. House Bill 26-1143 took effect on .
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