A Florida Level 2 background screening is a fingerprint-based state and federal criminal history check required under Chapter 435 for anyone taking a position of trust with children, elderly adults, or people with disabilities. You pass it or you don’t: a single disqualifying offense on your record blocks you from the job unless you get a formal exemption. The screening applies to employees, contractors, and volunteers across healthcare, childcare, behavioral health, education, and other regulated fields.
What the Screening Actually Checks
Your fingerprints are run against three sets of records: the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s state database, the FBI’s national criminal history records, and local law enforcement records.1Florida Senate. Florida Code 435.04 – Level 2 Screening Standards The FBI requires electronic fingerprint submission for the national check.2Florida Department of Law Enforcement. National Criminal History Record Check Because the search is biometric, an alias or a name change won’t move you around it.
The screening also searches sex offender and sexual predator registries in every state where you’ve lived during the previous five years.1Florida Senate. Florida Code 435.04 – Level 2 Screening Standards Several state agencies rely on this check for their licensed populations. The Department of Children and Families requires it for all programs serving children and vulnerable adults that it licenses or regulates.3Florida Department of Children and Families. Background Screening The Agency for Health Care Administration handles healthcare facility screenings and also runs the statewide results database.
What Disqualifies You
Chapter 435 lists dozens of specific offenses that make a person ineligible for a screened position. These aren’t factors to weigh. A single qualifying conviction, guilty plea, or nolo contendere plea ends the process, and a withhold of adjudication still counts. If you have a pending arrest for a listed offense, you remain ineligible until the case reaches a final resolution.1Florida Senate. Florida Code 435.04 – Level 2 Screening Standards
Disqualifying offenses fall into several broad categories:
- Violent crimes, including murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, kidnapping, false imprisonment, human trafficking, and vehicular homicide.
- Sexual offenses, including sexual battery, lewd or lascivious conduct, and exploitation of a child.
- Abuse and neglect offenses against children, elderly persons, or disabled adults, including failure to report child abuse.
- Any offense that qualifies as domestic violence under Florida law.
- Any felony under Chapter 893 (Florida’s drug laws), or any drug offense involving a minor.
- Exploitation of a vulnerable adult, felony welfare fraud, and other financial crimes against protected populations.
Attempts, solicitation, and conspiracy to commit any of these offenses count, as do equivalent offenses from other states or jurisdictions.1Florida Senate. Florida Code 435.04 – Level 2 Screening Standards There is no look-back period. A conviction from twenty years ago disqualifies you the same way a recent one does. The only path around a disqualifying record is the exemption process described below.
What You Need Before Your Fingerprint Appointment
Three things. A valid government-issued photo ID (a Florida driver’s license or U.S. passport works). Your Social Security number for the electronic submission. And an Originating Agency Identifier number, or ORI, which is a routing code telling the system which state agency should receive your results. Your employer or prospective employer provides the ORI, so ask for it before you schedule anything. Without the correct ORI, your results can’t be processed to the right agency.
Once you have those, find an approved LiveScan vendor. The FDLE publishes a current list of registered providers.4Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Current Registered LiveScan Submitters Most vendors let you register and pay online in advance; some take walk-ins. Your employer may have a preferred vendor or may initiate the whole process for you through the Clearinghouse.
The Appointment and Getting Results
At the appointment, a technician captures digital images of your fingerprints at a LiveScan station. No ink. The images transmit electronically to the FDLE for the state search, and the FDLE forwards them to the FBI for the national check. Results typically come back in 3 to 10 business days, longer if prints have to be resubmitted for quality.
Results land in the Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse, a secure database administered by the Agency for Health Care Administration and shared by nine state agencies.5Florida Department of Children and Families. Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse Your employer sees an “eligible” or “not eligible” status without handling the raw criminal history. The shared database also means your result can transfer if you move to another participating employer, which can spare you a second round of fingerprinting.6Florida Senate. Florida Code 435.12 – Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse
What It Costs
Florida law lets either the employer or the employee pay, and that call is usually set by the employer’s policy or the governing agency’s rules. Ask up front.
Government processing fees charged by the FDLE and FBI vary by the agency category your position falls under:7Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Criminal History Record Check Fee Schedule
- DCF, DJJ, and Elder Affairs vendors (daycare workers, juvenile treatment staff): $20 total ($8 state + $12 federal).
- Agriculture and Consumer Services (security guards, concealed weapon permit applicants): $42 total ($15 state + $27 federal).
- Most other screened workers (school employees, nursing home staff, doctors, realtors): $60 total ($24 state + $36 federal).
- Volunteers of qualified entities caring for children, elderly, or disabled persons: $28 total ($18 state + $10 federal).
The LiveScan vendor adds its own service fee on top, typically $12 to $45 depending on provider and location. For the most common category, plan on roughly $75 to $105 all in.
Starting Work Before Results Come Back
Section 435.06 lets an employer bring you on provisionally for training and orientation while the screening is still in progress, so onboarding doesn’t have to stall. Provisional status is limited: you wouldn’t be placed alone with vulnerable clients during this window, and if your result comes back “not eligible,” the arrangement ends immediately.
Five-Year Retention and Renewal
Your fingerprints stay in the FDLE’s system for five years. Before that period runs out, your employer has to initiate a Clearinghouse renewal to keep your eligibility active. If the renewal isn’t requested in time, the FDLE purges your prints and your eligibility expires, which means paying full price and getting fingerprinted all over again.8Agency for Health Care Administration. Clearinghouse Renewals
There is no grace period once prints are purged. Separately, a gap in employment of more than 90 days triggers a new national criminal history check even if your five-year window hasn’t closed. Keep track of your retention expiration and remind your employer; a timely renewal is far cheaper and faster than starting over.
Exemptions After a Disqualifying Result
A “not eligible” result doesn’t automatically end your career in a screened field. Florida law lets the head of the relevant agency or qualified entity grant an exemption if you can show, by clear and convincing evidence, that you’ve been rehabilitated and don’t pose a danger to vulnerable populations.9Florida Senate. Florida Code 435.07 – Exemptions From Disqualification
Before you can apply, a minimum waiting period has to pass:
- For felonies, at least two years since you completed or were released from confinement, supervision, or any other court-imposed condition.
- For misdemeanors, you must have completed all court-imposed conditions, with no additional waiting period beyond that.
- For juvenile delinquency findings for offenses that would be felonies if committed by an adult (and where the record hasn’t been sealed or expunged), at least three years since completing all conditions.
You also have to pay every court-ordered financial obligation from the disqualifying case in full before applying, including fines, restitution, court costs, and fees.9Florida Senate. Florida Code 435.07 – Exemptions From Disqualification The application asks for evidence of rehabilitation: character references, proof of steady employment, documentation that you’ve stayed out of trouble. The agency weighs the circumstances of the original offense, time elapsed, harm to victims, and your record since. Approval is not guaranteed, the burden is on you, and the reviewing agency has broad discretion to deny.
If the Result Is Wrong
Criminal records are only as accurate as the data courts and law enforcement enter, and errors are common. Charges that were dismissed, records that should have been sealed, and cases belonging to someone with a similar name all turn up in screening results.
If the error is in your FBI record, you can challenge it directly with the FBI at no cost. Identify the specific information you believe is wrong and supply documentation to support the correction, such as a court docket showing dismissal or an expungement order. The FBI typically responds within 45 days. For errors in state records, contact the FDLE or the originating court. Federal arrest data can be removed only when the FBI receives a federal court order directing expungement or when the submitting agency requests removal; state records follow the sealing and expungement procedures of whichever state created them.10Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions Don’t just accept a “not eligible” result you believe is wrong. Fixing the underlying record protects you for every future screening too.
A Note on Your Employer’s Separate Obligations
Chapter 435 is the screening regime, but it isn’t the only law in play. When an employer uses a third-party screening company, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requires a written disclosure and your written authorization before the report is pulled, and a two-step adverse-action notice process if the employer decides not to hire you based on the results.11Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports – What Employers Need to Know Healthcare employers that bill Medicare or Medicaid also have to check the federal Office of Inspector General’s List of Excluded Individuals and Entities separately from the Chapter 435 screening.12Office of Inspector General. Exclusions These are the employer’s duties, not yours, but knowing they exist helps you understand what paperwork you’re being asked to sign and why a healthcare employer may be running checks that go beyond the Clearinghouse result.