May 13, 2026
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
To authorize peace officer standards and training agencies to access criminal history records, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Criminal History Access Act of 2026
.
Sec. 2. Federal Bureau of Investigation
(a) Attorney general duties
Section 534 of title 28, United States Code, is amended—
(1)
in subsection (a)(4), by amending to read as follows:
(4)
exchange such records and information with, and for the official use of, authorized officials of the Federal Government, including the United States Sentencing Commission, the States, including State sentencing commissions and peace officer standards and training agencies, Indian tribes, cities, and penal and other institutions; and;
(2)
in subsection (e)—
(A)
by striking section, the term
and inserting the following:
section—
(1)
the term;
(B)
by striking (1) railroad
and inserting the following:
(A)
railroad;
(C)
by striking (2) police
and inserting the following:
(B)
police;
(D)
by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and
(E)
by adding at the end the following:
(2)
the term peace officer standards and training agency means an agency of a State with the statutory authority under State law to set standards for the hiring, training, ethical conduct, and retention of the law enforcement officers of the State through certification, licensing, or other similar qualification process; and
(3)
the term State means each of the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any territory or possession of the United States.
(b) Regulations
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney Generalshall amend part 20 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, as necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.