Rap Back Program: Arrest Alerts on NEMT Drivers After the First Fingerprint Check

A driver passes a fingerprint check in January and is arrested in August. If your next check is a name search the following January, you hear about it five months late. A rap back program closes that gap. The program keeps the driver’s prints on file and tells the authorized employer when a new arrest or court outcome comes in.

What a rap back program does

The FBI describes Rap Back as an optional service that lets an authorized user enroll a person and receive notice of a new arrest, or the outcome of an old one, for as long as the enrollment lasts (Federal Register, July 14, 2016). States run their own versions on their own records. Either way, the alert tells you that something happened. It does not tell you the driver did anything.

The FBI folded the cost of Rap Back into its fingerprint fee in 2016. Since October 1, 2026, that fee is $15.00 per fingerprint submission, and the schedule lists no separate Rap Back fee. A state program adds its own fee, as Florida’s does under section 943.0542, which charges the state check fee on top of the FBI amount.

Who can use it

FBI fingerprint records for employment reach employers only through routes the law sets up. The main one is a state statute that the FBI Director approves under 28 CFR 50.12, which lets the FBI exchange records with state and local officials for employment and licensing. Those records may be used only for the purpose requested and cannot go outside the receiving agencies or other authorized entities.

Another route is the National Child Protection Act (34 U.S.C. 40102). A state may designate qualified entities that look after children, the elderly, or people with disabilities to request nationwide checks. Whether a NEMT company counts is a state question. Florida defines the care a qualified entity provides as care, treatment, education, training, instruction, supervision, or recreation for those groups.

So a screening company cannot add the FBI’s Rap Back to a name-based report, and your company cannot simply order it. Ask the state agency or broker that requires your drivers’ fingerprints. The driver background check guide shows which checks each program requires.

Where NEMT companies meet it

Florida. The Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse (Florida Statutes 435.12, 2026) retains the prints of people in it. The Department of Law Enforcement searches them against incoming arrest prints and reports the results to the Agency for Health Care Administration. The statute also calls for the prints to join the FBI’s national retained print arrest notification program once the state does, and until then to be resubmitted for a national check every 5 years. Retention renews every 5 years, with fees collected at submission or resubmission. In Florida Medicaid, the Level 2 fingerprint screening applies to a NEMT company’s owners, officers, and managing employees. Drivers get a Level 1 screening instead, which checks employment history and state records through the Department of Law Enforcement (Florida Statutes 409.907(8) and 435.03), so retained-print alerts cover the people who run the company, not the people who drive. The Level 2 background check page shows how a company starts a screening.

Arizona. The driver applies for the fingerprint clearance card. It is valid for six years, and the Department of Public Safety periodically updates the status of current cards. As of October 6, 2026, schools and employers can sign up on its site for an email alert when a card’s status changes. A photocopy or the card itself is not proof that a card is valid, so check the status online. For NEMT, the AHCCCS Medical Policy Manual 310-BB (effective October 1, 2026) lets a health plan allow a 16 or 17 year old to ride without a guardian only when the guardian signed a release and the driver holds a valid Level I card.

Ohio. An agency provider certified by the Department of Developmental Disabilities must enroll each employee in a direct services position, one who has the opportunity to be alone with or to supervise a person served, in the state’s retained applicant fingerprint database, known as Rapback. Enrollment is due within 14 days of the criminal records check or the hire date, whichever is later, and lasts for as long as the person works there (Ohio Administrative Code 5123-2-02, effective February 19, 2026). The Ohio DODD non-medical transportation guide covers the rides that rule reaches.

Minnesota. Some states keep no prints. Minnesota’s special transportation law (Minnesota Statutes 174.30, subdivision 10) requires a chapter 245C background study on each driver of the providers it covers. Section 245C.05 says the state must not keep the study’s fingerprints and the FBI will not keep them either, so a later arrest cannot be matched to them. Ask the state how often it requires a new study.

What to do when an alert arrives

1. Read what it says. Note whether it is an arrest, a charge, or an outcome, the date, and the offense. Keep it in the driver’s confidential file. Records from these programs may be used only for the purpose requested.
2. Check your rules. Your state manual, broker contract, and insurance policy may bar a driver for certain charges or set a deadline to report. The disqualifying offenses guide lists common standards.
3. Treat the arrest as a lead. The EEOC says the fact of an arrest does not establish that criminal conduct occurred, and an exclusion based on an arrest alone is not job related and consistent with business necessity. An employer may act on the conduct behind the arrest if it makes the person unfit for the job.
4. Give the driver a chance to respond. Under 28 CFR 50.12, officials making a suitability decision should not deny the job on FBI record information until the person has had a reasonable time to correct or complete the record. If a screening company’s report is part of your decision, send the pre-adverse action notice too.
5. Decide and write it down. Record what the alert said, what you checked, and why you kept or removed the driver.

When a driver leaves

End the enrollment so the alerts stop and the status on file stays right. In Florida, an employer must register in the Clearinghouse and report a person’s initial status and any change within 5 business days. In California, an agency that receives Subsequent Arrest Notifications must tell the Department of Justice when its employment or licensing relationship with the person ends, and the Department then stops sending them. California also requires agencies to destroy criminal history information once the business need is fulfilled.

In Arizona the driver keeps the card and can change the sponsoring employer in the account during the card’s six years. Add the step to your employee termination checklist so no ex-employee stays enrolled.