The following appointing or licensing authorities shall obtain a criminal records check of the person who is to be appointed or licensed:

(A) The governor, before appointing an individual as a member of the commission;

(B) The commission, before appointing an individual as executive director or a gaming agent;

(C) The commission, before issuing a license for a key employee or casino gaming employee, and before issuing a license for each investor, except an institutional investor, for a casino operator, management company, holding company, or gaming-related vendor;

(D) The executive director, before appointing an individual as a professional, technical, or clerical employee of the commission.

Thereafter, such an appointing or licensing authority shall obtain a criminal records check of the same individual at three-year intervals.

The appointing or licensing authority shall make available to each person of whom a criminal records check is required a copy of the form and the standard fingerprint impression sheet prescribed under divisions (C)(1) and (2) of section 109.572 of the Revised Code. The person shall complete the form and impression sheet and return them as directed by the appointing or licensing authority. If a person fails to complete and return the form and impression sheet within a reasonable time, the person is ineligible to be appointed or licensed or to continue in the appointment or licensure.

The appointing or licensing authority shall cause the completed form and impression sheet to be forwarded to the superintendent of the bureau of criminal identification and investigation. The appointing or licensing authority shall request the superintendent also to obtain information from the federal bureau of investigation, including fingerprint-based checks of the national crime information databases, and from other states and the federal government under the national crime prevention and privacy compact as part of the criminal records check.

For all criminal records checks conducted under this section, the applicant for a casino operator, management company, holding company, gaming-related vendor, key employee, or casino gaming employee license shall pay the fee charged by the bureau of criminal identification and investigation or by a vendor approved by the bureau to conduct a criminal records check based on the applicant's fingerprints in accordance with division (A)(15) of section 109.572 of the Revised Code. If the applicant for a key employee or casino gaming employee license is applying at the request of a casino operator , management company, holding company, or gaming-related vendor, the casino operator , management company, holding company, or gaming-related vendor shall pay the fee charged for all criminal records checks conducted under this section.

The appointing or licensing authority shall review the results of a criminal records check. An appointee for a commission member shall forward the results of the criminal records check to the president of the senate before the senate advises and consents to the appointment of the commission member. The appointing or licensing authority shall not appoint or license or retain the appointment or licensure of a person a criminal records check discloses has been convicted of or has pleaded guilty or no contest to a disqualifying offense. A "disqualifying offense" means any gambling offense, any theft offense, any offense having an element of fraud or misrepresentation, any offense having an element of moral turpitude, and any felony not otherwise included in the foregoing list, except as otherwise provided in section 3772.10 of the Revised Code.

The report of a criminal records check is not a public record that is open to public inspection and copying. The commission shall not make the report available to any person other than the person who was the subject of the criminal records check; an appointing or licensing authority; a member, the executive director, or an employee of the commission; or any court or agency, including a hearing examiner, in a judicial or administrative proceeding relating to the person's employment or application for a license under this chapter.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.126, HB 386, §1, eff. 6/11/2012.

Added by 128th General AssemblyFile No.38, HB 519, §1, eff. 9/10/2010.