H.R. 8352

Criminal History Access Act of 2026

Sponsor: Derek Schmidt

1 cosponsor
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Official summary

Written by the Congressional Research Service.

Criminal History Access Act of 2026

This bill authorizes a new type of entity—peace officer standards and training agencies—to access criminal history record information maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The term peace officer standards and training agency means an agency of a state, the District of Columbia, or a U.S. territory that is authorized to set standards for the hiring, training, ethical conduct, and retention of its law enforcement officers through certification, licensing, or other similar qualification processes. 

Text of the bill

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Sec. 2. Federal Bureau of Investigation Changed · May 4

Where this section came from

  1. Apr 16, 2026 · Introduced in House Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary, Apr 16
  2. May 4, 2026 · Reported in House Marked up by House Committee on the Judiciary, Apr 22 Reported by House Committee on the Judiciary, May 4 Committee members' individual votes aren't in our records.
What changed in the text

… 25 unchanged passages …

(b) Regulations. Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General Generalshall shall amend section part 20 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, as necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

What is a markup?

A markup is a committee meeting where members go through a bill and vote on changes before sending it to the full chamber.

(a) Attorney general duties. Section 534 of title 28, United States Code, is amended—

(1) in subsection (a)(4), by amending to read as follows:

Text this section adds to the law

(4) exchange such records and information with, and for the official use of, authorized officials of the Federal Government, including the United States Sentencing Commission, the States, including State sentencing commissions and peace officer standards and training agencies, Indian tribes, cities, and penal and other institutions; and

(2) in subsection (e)—

(A) by striking section, the term and inserting the following:

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section—

(1) the term

(B) by striking (1) railroad and inserting the following:

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(A) railroad

(C) by striking (2) police and inserting the following:

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(B) police

(D) by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and

(E) by adding at the end the following:

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(2) the term peace officer standards and training agency means an agency of a State with the statutory authority under State law to set standards for the hiring, training, ethical conduct, and retention of the law enforcement officers of the State through certification, licensing, or other similar qualification process; and

(3) the term State means each of the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any territory or possession of the United States.

(b) Regulations. Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney Generalshall amend part 20 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, as necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.