H.R. 8352
Criminal History Access Act of 2026
Sponsor: Derek Schmidt
1 cosponsor
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
This Act may be cited as the Criminal History Access Act of 2026.
(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:
(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:
section—
(1) the term
(B) by striking (1) railroad and inserting the following:
(A) railroad
(C) by striking (2) police and inserting the following:
(B) police
(D) by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and
(E) by adding at the end the following:
(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.