PBSA

PBSA Journal PAGE 3 JULY/AUG 2021 Except where otherwise indicated, articles are copyright © by PBSA 2021. All rights reserved. 2020-21 Board of Directors Officers Michelle Leblond Chair PlusOne Solutions Inc. Kelly Uebel Chair-Elect Asurint Scott Maloney Secretary/Treasurer Omni Data Retrieval Bon Idziak Immediate Past Chair Accurate Background Inc. Directors Sachin Aggarwal AMS Inform Chad Ascar IntelliCorp Records Inc. Dean Carras Appriss Elizabeth Fitzell Sterling RISQ Tim Gordon InfoMart Noelle Harling Frasco Profiles Inc. Todd Higey Employment Screening Services David Hutchinson PeopleCheck Katie Kulp Certn Summa McCosker HireRight / PeopleCheck MAR/APR 2020 Executive Director Update – Social Distancing Edition By PBSA Executive Director Melissa Sorenson W e have not yet hit the worst of COVID-19 in the USA. And as we look to our neighbors around the world, most have not hit their peak spread either. Collectively we are painfully aware that we do not have a timeline for when we will be fully recovered – or what full recovery even looks like. That's pretty scary and it is without a doubt a difficult time for all of us. The seriousness of this pandemic should not and cannot be ignored. Thankfully, in most places, leaders and citizens are taking action to slow the spread of the disease and also taking steps to protect the people and businesses that are in its path. Is the action enough? That depends on what success looks like, but we know there has been and will continue to be fallout. We also know that many of our friends, family and colleagues have or will suffer before this is over. I have spoken to more PBSA members in the past week via phone and email than any other week in recent history. I've heard the stories of how COVID-19 is impacting your businesses, your families and your friends. I've also heard your words of encouragement, members checking in on other members, checking in on staff, genuine appreciation for the things that matter – health and family, and some good laughs over the daily challenges (read: complete fiasco that defines working from home with children because there is literally no other choice). [Side note: If you haven't googled 'video conference gone wrong' – do yourself a favor, take a break and do just that. You will not regret it.] It's this interaction with our members around the globe that also gives me confidence that we will come through this just as we went in – stronger than ever. Through our founders, members and partners, PBSA has built a community that doesn't just survive but thrives in the face of adversity. Challenging times can bring out the best in people and I am seeing that firsthand with all of you. PBSA, like many of our member businesses, has been fortunate to have seen several years of growth and overall success. That success has allowed us over the last year and a half to expand our footprint, increase our staff support, change our bylaws, and update our foundation and brand to be the global organization that has been a vision for many years. We've also seen conferences grow year over year in registrations and sponsorships – virtually unheard of for most associations. And without a doubt one of our biggest IN THIS ISSUE Executive Director Update 1 The Importance of Internal Communications 4 U.S Federal COVID-19 Legislation 6 State Court Closures and PBSA Impact 7 Current U.S. State Legislative Climate 9 ID Checking Around the World 12 Effective Vendor Management 14 COVID-19 New Paid Leave Laws 17 Alternative Data Sources 19 CCPA Compliance 21 Thank You, Sponsors & Exhibitors 24 Accredited Companies 26 Mission, Comments & Article Submission 27 Except where otherwise indicated, articles are copyright © by PBSA 2020. All rights reserved. JOURNAL Continued on page 3 PAGE 1 Through our founders, members and partners, PBSA has built a community that doesn't just survive but thrives in the face of adversity. Advertise in the PBSA Journal Looking for an opportunity to present your products and services to an engaged audience? The PBSA Journal e-magazine is distributed 6 times per year to the full PBSA member contact list of over 5,800 background screening professionals. View the JOURNAL ADVERTISING CONTRACT for full details. SEPT/OCT 2019 Introducing the New PBSA! By PBSA Chair Bon Idziak and Chair Elect Michelle Leblond A t the recent Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas, our membership voted to evolve into a truly global professional trade association and officially became the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA). This monumental step came after years of progress led by some of our industry's most notable leaders and visionaries. While we've openly accepted international members and had international chapters for many years, the Board added globalization to our Association objectives in 2017. This was unlike previous approaches where we included a global element to our objectives and with this approach, we really made the transformation a concerted focus for the Association. Under the leadership of our Board, Melissa Sorenson, our amazing and tireless Executive Director, and a Global Taskforce representative of our membership, the last two years have been full of decisions and considerations on how best to achieve this objective. It included fun tasks like choosing a logo, the delicate process of choosing a name (and no, we didn't contemplate we may be called PB&J!) and the often mind- numbing task of changing and reviewing our bylaws again, and again, and one more time, to make sure they appropriately covered the new structure that would allow PBSA to move to a global organization. This was a natural evolution for our members located both in the U.S., and abroad, and follows the trend of industry towards a borderless world. What does this mean for our members? First and foremost it means access and inclusivity – access to information and each other and a genuine inclusiveness across our membership base. We have removed some of the structure that created divisions between members, we've bestowed voting rights on all regular and associate members and we've created a structure that is consistent across the globe which will be overseen by a single governing Board. At first blush, you may think this means we've made things more complex. In reality, the approach taken by our Board has actually been one of simplicity. More streamlined membership categories, more consistent rights and privileges between Regular and Associate members, one membership per company, no matter where they are headquartered, and an open access for any PBSA member to opt-in to communications, materials and information from any of our geographic Councils around the globe. IN THIS ISSUE Introducing the New PBSA! 1 How to Build a Grassroots Campaign 4 House Judiciary Committee Hearing 5 State Government Relations Update 7 Second Pennsylvania Advocacy Day 9 Why I Believe in Advocacy 10 Demystifying the U.S. Government Structure 11 Social Media Risk Assessments 13 Quality Program First Steps 15 Affinity Program Highlight 18 Annual Conference Exhibitors 19 Annual Conference Sponsors 21 Accredited Companies 22 Mission, Comments & Article Submission 23 Except where otherwise indicated, articles are copyright © by PBSA 2019. All rights reserved. JOURNAL Continued on page 3 PAGE 1 JAN/FEB 2020 PBSA Europe Council: 2019 Review and 2020 Plans By Laura Rosianu, PBSA Europe Council Chair Elect Changing. Reinventing. Improving. I f 2019 could be summarized in a few words, those would be the ones that first come to mind. Last year was a great and exciting year. Beginning the year as NAPBS (National Association of Professional Background Screeners) and ending it as PBSA (Professional Background Screening Association), the Association went through an extended rebranding process. But more than just a rebranding – it was a transformation into one unified, global membership. With the help of countless professionals from around the world and based on the feedback of key people throughout the organization, the name, the logo, bylaws and many more were transformed as to reflect the international reach and presence of the PBSA. The four PBSA Councils (APAC, Canada, Europe, and U.S.) now represent a group of members who share a geographic region, each reporting to the PBSA Board. This change paves the way for more and exciting improvements, taking the Association to the next level thus creating the set-up for wide knowledge sharing and advancing excellence in the screening profession. Starting in February 2019, the Weekly Insider, an initiative to keep the members located in Europe updated and sharing the knowledge across the Council, has quickly become one of the main ways of communicating with members and keeping them engaged. Together with the Europe LinkedIn group, they played and continue playing a key role in creating a true community feeling, bringing the members closer and having them involved in shaping the future of the PBSA. The PBSA Europe Annual Conference held in London in June 2019 was the perfect scenery for screening professionals to connect, exchange ideas and meet like- minded people in the industry. The great feedback shared by members from this event was a good confirmation of the fact that the Association is on a great track and formed the basis for 2020's strategy of having more meetings, in various settings with the participation of many more members. IN THIS ISSUE PBSA Europe Council 1 Five Communications Trends for 2020 4 Key Win in Department of Labor 6 Public Records Access Update 7 Get the Most Out of Your Membership 9 Curious Paradox 11 APAC Council 2019 AGM 13 Power to Change 15 Canada Council Update 16 2020 Background Screening Trends 17 Accredited Companies 19 Mission, Comments & Article Submission 20 Except where otherwise indicated, articles are copyright © by PBSA 2020. All rights reserved. JOURNAL Continued on page 3 PAGE 1 This change paves the way for more and exciting improvements, taking the Association to the next level thus creating the set-up for wide knowledge sharing and advancing excellence in the screening profession. The PBSA Europe Annual Conference held in London in June 2019 was the perfect scenery for screening professionals to connect, exchange ideas and meet like- minded people in the industry. APAC Council Conference & Membership Update By Ray Liang, APAC Membership Committee Chair; and Mario Perumal, APAC Conference Committee Chair A head of the 2021 APAC Council Annual General Meeting (AGM), here's a quick update from the APAC Conference & Membership Committees. APAC Conference Committee: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has limited the activities of this committee. Based on the success of last year's virtual conference and the continuing travel restrictions in place, a decision was made to make the 2021 AGM a virtual event this year as well. It will be held alongside the PBSA Annual Conference. A sub-committee has been very active in putting together an exciting program for the AGM with diverse topics which we are certain will be informative and educational. The program is in its final selection phase and by publication of this Journal is available for all members to view on the website. Access to the AGM is available for an AGM-only virtual registration or as part of the full virtual or in-person registrations. Any PBSA member wishing to volunteer for the committee in future or willing to be a presenter at future APAC events can reach out to the chair at mario@vigilant-security.com. APAC Membership Committee: The APAC Council Membership Committee focused on membership renewal in Q2 2021, growing the active members from 39 by the end of Q1 2021 to 46 as of 30 June 2021. The Council Leadership has taken the initiative to actively reach out to all expired members in 2020 one by one, trying to understand their willingness and plan for renewal, which received positive results. For the rest of this year, the committee will work closely with the Education and the Conference committees to better engage our members and share up-to-date and useful resources. l

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