Whenever a community college district employs a person in an academic position and that person has not previously been employed by a school or community college district in this state, the governing board may, within 10 working days of the person’s date of employment, require the individual to have duplicate personal identification cards upon which shall appear the legible fingerprints and a personal description of the employee prepared by a local law enforcement agency having jurisdiction in the area of the district. The law enforcement agency shall transmit the cards, together with the fee hereinafter specified, to the Department of Justice. At the earliest opportunity following its receipt of the identification cards, the Department of Justice shall furnish the law enforcement agency submitting the employee’s fingerprints a complete criminal history of the individual if one appears in the department’s files. The local law enforcement agency shall, in turn, excerpt from the history all information regarding any convictions of the employee and shall forward that information to the governing board of the district.
A plea or verdict of guilty or a finding of guilt by a court in a trial without a jury or forfeiture of bail is deemed to be a conviction within the meaning of this section, irrespective of a subsequent order under the provisions of Section 1203.4 of the Penal Code allowing the withdrawal of the plea of guilty and entering of a plea of not guilty, or setting aside the verdict of guilty, or dismissing the accusations or information.
The governing board may provide the means whereby the identification cards may be completed and may charge a fee determined by the Department of Justice to be sufficient to reimburse the department for the costs incurred in processing the application. The amount of the fee shall be forwarded to the Department of Justice, with two copies of applicant’s or employee’s fingerprint cards. The governing board may collect an additional fee not to exceed two dollars ($2) payable to the local public law enforcement agency taking the fingerprints and completing the data on the fingerprint cards.
Any provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, the Department of Justice, shall, as provided in this section, furnish, upon application of a local public law enforcement agency all information pertaining to any person required to submit personal identification cards pursuant to this section if there is a record of the person in its office.