Dear PBSA Member:

See below for content from the Call to Action, a list of individuals we would like contacted (it’s a long list, please send letters to everyone on the list if you are able, we need as many letters going to all of these individuals as possible if we’re going to have any success in reversing this rule), and sample letters for you and your clients to send.  

Dear PBSA Member,

PBSA has been working with the Michigan State Court Administrator’s office for the last several weeks regarding a rulemaking that will remove date of birth from court records. Late last week, we were informed that they were not planning to change or modify the rule and had identified July 1st as their implementation date.

Unless we are able to persuade the them otherwise, effective July 1st, Michigan will implement new court rules that will remove date of birth from court records. Clerks will also not verify a DOB verbally on a court record or limit a search of their records using DOB. As you know, access to a full DOB is often a minimum requirement needed in order to confirm a record as a match to a candidate during a background check. We need your immediate help to stop these rules going into effect.

The updates are to Rule 1.109, paragraph 10, subparagraph (a), which states:

And to Rule 8.119, paragraph (H):

We have already seen some counties throughout the state begin implementing these new procedures - Ionia, Macomb and Van Buren counties. This is extremely cumbersome and in some instances one cannot verify that a court record does belong to the individual being investigated.

The Michigan State Court Administrator’s Office leadership offered a possible solution that courts would be able to provide DOB verification on records if the researcher could provide a signed release form at the point of request. This is a problematic option for our industry as many local researchers do not have direct access to these release forms. And it may be that a standard authorization to obtain a consumer report will not satisfy a requirement to obtain consent to the courts’ release of date of birth. As PBSA members know, it will be impossible to be consistent with this process and the best case is that it will greatly increase processing costs, turnaround times, and will further burden court clerks.

First, we are asking you to immediately contact your Michigan customers to explain the situation to them, and ask them to contact the list of people set out below. Here is a sample letter for employment screening clients to use and a sample letter for landlord/property manager clients.

Second, we are asking you to do the same with this sample letter for PBSA members.

The officials to contact are listed on this document.

The letter can be shared with clients to complete and send on to the list of contacts and the points within can be used by clients who wish to reach out by phone.