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Peace Officer Standards and Training Agency Information Access Clarification Act
To authorize peace officer standards and training agencies to access criminal history records, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill authorizes state peace officer standards and training agencies to access Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history records for official use. Peace officer standards and training agencies are state agencies with authority to set standards for hiring, training, ethical conduct, and retention of state law enforcement officers through certification and licensing. The bill amends federal law to explicitly list these agencies as authorized recipients of FBI criminal history records, alongside other federal and state entities. The Attorney General must update FBI regulations within 180 days to implement this new access authority. The bill defines "state" to include all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and U.S. territories.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Schmidt, Derek [R-KS-2] (R-KS)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Derek Schmidt’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- WATCO COMPANIES $13,200
- MILLER'S PROFESSIONAL IMAGING $13,200
- WEALTH ALLIANCE ADVISORY GROUP, LLC $10,035
- SNK REAL PROPERTY HOLDINGS, LLC $9,900
- SILVER LAKE BANK $6,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Derek Schmidt → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Sep 8, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
- Sep 8, 2025 Introduced in House
More bills on these subjects (8)
Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 8, 2025
Mr. Schmidt introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To authorize peace officer standards and training agencies to access criminal history records, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Peace Officer Standards and Training Agency Information Access Clarification Act”.
SEC. 2. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION.
(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 General shall amend section part 20 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, as necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. <all>
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