Senate Bill 630 Summary

• Grants licensed private investigators access to the Administrative Office of the Courts' real-time criminal records information system to assist with investigations permitted under G.S. 74C-3(a)(8).

• Limits access to general criminal case information maintained by clerks of superior court and excludes systems for criminal process production or non-public information.

• Requires private investigators to pay initial setup fees equivalent to governmental agency fees, except those with existing access as of July 1, 2015, and mandates investigators bear all hardware, software, and telecommunications costs.

• Requires the Commissioner to coordinate access by providing information to the Administrative Office of the Courts and mandates notification within 24 hours of any license suspension or revocation, with immediate system access revocation.

• Makes it a Class H felony for unauthorized persons to use assigned online identifiers, for private investigators to share access outside direct supervision, to use access with suspended or revoked licenses, or to distribute obtained information without written consent for purposes other than criminal history checks.