Fire departments may require job or volunteer applicants to provide fingerprints and undergo a criminal history check; refusal can bar the person from working, and the applicant pays the listed fees.
§587.4. Authority of municipal or parish fire department, a fire protection district, or a volunteer fire department; criminal history information A.(1) A municipal or parish fire department, a fire protection district, or a volunteer fire department, referred to in this Section as a "fire department", may require any person who applies to work with a fire department as a paid employee or as a volunteer to supply fingerprint samples and submit to a criminal history records check to be conducted by the office of state police within the Department of Public Safety and Corrections. (2) When a criminal history records check is requested pursuant to Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, the fire department shall be provided with state or national criminal history record information or both from the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information and the Federal Bureau of Investigation relative to any applicant seeking to work with a fire department as a paid employee or as a volunteer whose fingerprints have been obtained by the department pursuant to this Section. The Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information shall upon request and after receipt of fingerprint cards and other identifying information as required by the bureau from the fire department make available to the fire department the information contained in the bureau's criminal history record and identification files, which pertains to the applicant. In addition, when the fire department requests national criminal history records checks, the bureau shall forward the fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal history records check. B. A fee of twenty-six dollars shall be charged by the bureau for furnishing information contained in the bureau's criminal history record and identification files, which pertains to the applicant. The additional cost of providing the national criminal history records check shall be charged by the bureau, and the fees shall be paid by the person seeking to work with a fire department. C. Any person who is requested to comply with the requirements set forth in Subsection A and refuses to do so shall be prohibited from working with a fire department as a paid employee or as a volunteer. Acts 2003, No. 735, §1, eff. June 27, 2003.