Press Releases

Subcommittees to Hold Hearing on Legislation to “Ban the Box”

March 12, 2019

(WASHINGTON, D.C.)—On Wednesday, March 13, 2019, the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Subcommittee on Government Operations will hold a joint hearing on “The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act (H.R. 1076).”

WHERE:  2154 Rayburn House Office Building

WHEN:  Wednesday, March 13, 2019

TIME:  2:00 PM

BACKGROUND & PURPOSE

  • Studies show that a criminal record reduces the likelihood of a callback or job offer by nearly 50 percent for men in general. 
  • African-American men with criminal records have been 60 percent less likely to receive a callback or job offer than those without records.
  • On February 7, 2019, Chairman Elijah E. Cummings, House Committee on the Judiciary Ranking Member Doug Collins, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) Chairman Ron Johnson, and Senator Cory Booker introduced the Fair Chance Act—bipartisan, bicameral legislation to give formerly incarcerated individuals a fairer chance at finding a job by prohibiting the federal government and federal contractors from asking about the criminal history of a job applicant prior to a conditional offer of employment.
  • On February 13, 2019, HSGAC voted favorably to report the Fair Chance Act out of Committee.
  • The Oversight Committee intends to consider the bill at a future markup. 

The Fair Chance Act would:

  • Prevent the federal government—including the executive, legislative, and judicial branches—from requesting criminal history information from applicants until they reach the conditional offer stage;
  • Prohibit federal contractors from requesting criminal history information from candidates for positions within the scope of federal contracts until the conditional offer stage;
  • Include important exceptions for positions related to law enforcement and national security duties, positions requiring access to classified information, and positions for which access to criminal history information before the conditional offer stage is required by law; and
  • Require the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in coordination with the U.S. Census Bureau, to issue a report on the employment statistics of formerly incarcerated individuals.

WITNESSES

Panel One

The Honorable Ron Johnson

Chairman

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

U.S. Senate

The Honorable Cory A. Booker

Senator, New Jersey

U.S. Senate

The Honorable Doug Collins

Ranking Member

Committee on the Judiciary

U.S. House of Representatives

Panel Two

Holly Harris

Executive Director

Justice Action Network

Teresa Y. Hodge

Co-Founder & CEO

R3 Score Technologies, Inc. 
 

The hearing is open to the public, and a livestream will be broadcast here. 

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