TO: Business Leader

FROM: John J. Ferriter, Esquire

DATE: September 15, 2005

RE: New CORI Regulations - Brief Summary ______________________________________________________________________________

Under the new regulations, CORI requests must include additional information from applicants, such as their weight, height and eye color. This new information will be used if a certified agency has difficulty assessing whether a CORI report can be attributed to a particular applicant. The Criminal History Systems Board (CHSB) recently mailed to certified agencies a copy of the new CORI request form, which contains fields for the additional information. The CHSB has indicated that failure to use the new form "may" result in CORI requests being returned unprocessed. The new regulations also require certified agencies to verify an applicant's identity with a government issued photographic form identification and maintain a copy of that identification to document the verification process.

Now certified agencies must provide an applicant the opportunity to dispute the accuracy or relevance of a CORI report prior to making an adverse decision based on information within the CORI report. As part of this procedure, after notifying an applicant of a potential adverse decision, agencies must provide the applicant a copy of the CORI report and the agency's CORI policy, as well as the CHSB's Information Concerning the Process in Correcting a Criminal Record. These notice requirements are in addition to any requirements under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Massachusetts 'mini-FCRA' that may apply. Agencies must maintain a CORI policy consistent with the new regulations.

All CORI authorized personnel need to meet the standards of and sign a revised Agreement of Non-Disclosure and Statement of CORI Certification Compliance, and other responsibilities. This Agreement is available on the CHSB's website. According to the CHSB, the signed form must be submitted to the CHSB with in the next 30 days for all authorized staff members. Because of the sensitive nature of the information collected for the new form and the CORI received, this information should be hanged in a manner that will comply with laws that protect private information about an individual (including the recent Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) as only one example). If you desire more information, please feel free to call Attorney Jack Ferriter at 413-535-4200 or email at jferriter@ferriter.com.