BCI still denies the allegations Dayton and Columbus leveled in their lawsuit, but the agency and the cities have agreed to work together to try to improve the background check system, according to Franklin County Common Pleas Court records.
Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein described the settlement as a “historic win” for Ohioans and public safety in the state.
“For the first time ever, Ohio has a real plan to modernize our criminal background check system to make it work for those who use it every day — to keep deadly weapons out of the hands of violent individuals and ensure employers can access the information they need when hiring,” Klein said.
Dominic Binkley, deputy press secretary for Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, said his office has always believed that cooperation is the best way to achieve the parties’ mutual goal of an improved background check system.
“With the litigation behind us, BCI and the cities can now focus our collective resources on making the system a more effective public safety tool,” he said.
Dayton and Columbus filed a civil lawsuit that accused BCI of not fulfilling its “mandatory obligation” to collect and report disqualifying criminal conviction information into state and federal background check system databases. BCI is overseen by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
The lawsuit said information in the background check system is vital to ensure that gun sellers do not sell firearms to people who are not legally allowed to have them. Records in the databases help employers like cities and schools screen out job candidates with dangerous criminal histories.
The lawsuit said that police agencies and courts in many Ohio counties have not been reporting criminal records on time and many clerks of court across the state have failed to report at least some records of qualifying convictions.
These records are an important when it comes to firearm sales.
Last year, the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System received nearly 656,000 background checks that originated in Ohio. These checks are conducted before firearm sales.
As part of a settlement agreement, BCI has pledged to try to develop and implement a self-service portal to help courts and police agencies resolve errors or omissions in their criminal history records, that they are required to report under state and federal law.
The cities and BCI agreed to work together to try to get grants and other funding to help reporting agencies submit criminal history information electronically.
BCI agreed to try to seek funding to help reporting agencies modernize technology, recover missing criminal history information and take other steps to improve their reporting of criminal records.
BCI says it will create a grants advisory committee, with representation from Dayton and Columbus, that will explore ways to use grant funds to improve the background check system.
BCI has promised to create a dashboard that shows reporting agencies’ compliance rates when it comes to submitting criminal history information.
BCI says it will share and regularly update a list of all criminal offenses that must be reported under state and federal law.
BCI and Dayton and Columbus also have pledged to advocate for state legislation that supports enforcement of mandatory reporting requirements and regular audits of their reporting activities. The parties also say they will advocate for mandatory electronic reporting of fingerprints to BCI.
“Thanks to the city of Dayton, our co-counsel Everytown Law and the law firm of Perkins Coie and the state for stepping up to work together on this commonsense gun safety measure,” said Klein, Columbus city attorney. “I urge the legislature to build on this progress and equip reporting agencies with the tools they need to fill the gaps in our system and better protect public safety.”
The city of Dayton did not immediately return a request for comment.
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