This page contains bills sponsored by presidential contenders. Bill sponsorships indicate the topics that legislators are most interested in, and spend the most time on.

08-S2756 on Jul 28, 2008

1. In 2006, a total of 16,500,000 adults volunteered their service to education or youth programs.
2. An estimated 6.6% of individuals in the United States will serve time in prison for a crime during their lifetime. The Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System of the FBI maintains fingerprints and criminal histories on more than 47,000,000 individuals, many of whom have been arrested or convicted multiple times.
3. Of individuals released from prison, an estimated 67.5% were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within 3 years.
4. Given the large number of individuals with criminal records and the vulnerability of the population they work with, human service organizations that work with children need an effective and reliable means of obtaining a complete criminal history in order to determine the suitability of a potential volunteer or employee.
5. The large majority of Americans (88%) favor granting youth-serving organizations access to conviction records for screening volunteers and 59% favored allowing youth-serving organizations to consider arrest records when screening volunteers.
6. Even when accessible, the cost of a criminal background check can be prohibitively expensive, between $21 and $99 for each volunteer or employee.
7. The Child Safety Pilot Program demonstrates that timely and affordable background checks are possible, as background checks under that program are completed within 3 to 5 business days at a cost of $18.

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   Participating counts on VoteMatch question 9. Question 9: Stricter punishment reduces crime Scores: -2=Strongly oppose; -1=Oppose; 0=neutral; 1=Support; 2=Strongly support.
   • Topic: Families & Children
   • Headline: Permanent crime database for volunteers with kids (Score: 1)
   • Headline 2: Permanent crime database for volunteers with kids (Score: 1)
     
     
   • Key for participation codes:
   • Sponsorships: p=sponsored; o=co-sponsored; s=signed
   • Memberships: c=chair; m=member; e=endorsed; f=profiled; s=scored
   • Resolutions: i=introduced; w=wrote; a=adopted
   • Cases: w=wrote; j=joined; d=dissented; c=concurred
   • Surveys: '+' supports; '-' opposes.
   
   
   

   Democrats participating in 08-S2756
   Neil Abercrombie	s2o	Hawaii Democrat (Resigned 2010)
   Tom Allen	s2o	Maine Democrat (Retiring 2008)
   Allen Boyd	s2o	Florida Former Democrat (until 2010)
   Russ Carnahan	s2o	Missouri Democrat
   Artur Davis	s2o	Alabama Former Democrat (until 2010)
   Susan Davis	s2o	California Democrat
   Dianne Feinstein	s2o	CA Democratic Sr Senator
   Bart Gordon	s2o	Tennessee Democrat (until 2010)
   Sheila Jackson Lee	s2o	Texas Democrat
   Tim Johnson	s2o	SD Democratic Sr Senator (retiring 2014)
   Steve Kagen	s2o	WI Former Democratic challenger (2012)
   Nicholas Lampson	s2o	Texas Democrat (Unseated 2008)
   Zoe Lofgren	s2o	California Democrat
   Carolyn McCarthy	s2o	New York Dem./Ind./Working-Families
   Claire McCaskill	s2o	MO Democratic Sr Senator; previously state Auditor
   Jim McDermott	s2o	Washington Democrat
   Patrick Joseph Murphy	s2o	Pennsylvania Democrat (until 2010)
   Ed Pastor	s2o	Arizona Democrat
   Steven Rothman	s2o	New Jersey Democrat
   Linda Sanchez	s2o	California Democrat
   Loretta Sanchez	s2o	California Democrat
   Adam Schiff	s1i	California Democrat
   Arlen Specter	s2o	PA Former Democratic incumbent (elected as Republican)
   Ed Towns	s2o	New York Democrat/Liberal (Retiring)
   Mark Udall	s2o	CO Democratic Sr Senator; previously Representative
   Debbie Wasserman Schultz	s2o	Florida Democrat
   Henry Waxman	s2o	California Democrat

   
   
   

   Republicans participating in 08-S2756
   Dan Burton	s2o	Indiana Republican (Retiring 2012)
   Norm Coleman	s2o	MN Former Republican Senator; lost court battle, 2009
   Vernon Ehlers	s2o	Michigan Republican (until 2010)
   John Ensign	s2o	NV Republican Jr Senator
   Orrin Hatch	s2o	UT Republican Sr Senator
   Johnny Isakson	s2o	GA Republican Jr Senator; previously Representative
   Ric Keller	s2o	Florida Republican (Unseated 2008)
   Peter King	s2o	New York Rep./Ind./Cons./Right-To-Life
   Michael McCaul	s2o	Texas Republican
   Thad McCotter	s2o	Michigan Republican
   Todd Platts	s2o	Pennsylvania Republican (Retiring 2012)
   Ralph Regula	s2o	Ohio Republican (Retiring 2008)
   Mike Rogers	s2o	Michigan Republican
   Ed Royce	s2o	California Republican
   Don Young	s2o	Alaska Republican

   
   
   

   Independents participating in 08-S2756
   Joe Biden	s1i	DE Vice President
   Elizabeth Dole	s2o	NC Former Cabinet Member (Labor Sec'y) and Senator
   Tom Feeney	s2o	Florida Former GOP

   
   
   

   Total recorded by OnTheIssues:

   Democrats: 27 Republicans: 15 Independents: 3