Bill 38 explained in plain English
Helping Volunteers Give Back Act, 2013
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
The Helping Volunteers Give Back Act, 2013, regulates when organizations can require criminal record checks from volunteers, generally limiting this to checks that are less than a year old and reducing costs for obtaining multiple copies.
This Ontario bill, the Helping Volunteers Give Back Act, 2013, aims to encourage volunteerism by making criminal record checks less frequent and less costly for volunteers. It sets rules for when organizations can ask volunteers for these checks. Generally, an organization cannot ask for a criminal record check if the volunteer provides one that is less than a year old and is the most recent one they have. Organizations can still ask for notice of any pending criminal proceedings or their outcomes. After a volunteer starts, organizations can ask for a new check yearly, or sooner if they have reason to believe a new conviction has been added to the volunteer's record. Police forces must provide up to five extra copies of a criminal record check to a volunteer at no extra cost if requested.
- It establishes new rules about when organizations can request criminal record checks for volunteers.
- It restricts organizations from requiring a criminal record check as a condition of starting volunteer work if the volunteer already has a recent (less than one year old) and current criminal record check.
- It allows organizations to ask volunteers to report on pending criminal proceedings and their final outcomes.
- It permits organizations to request a new criminal record check yearly, or at any time if there are reasonable grounds to believe a new conviction has been added to the volunteer's record.
- It requires police forces to provide up to five additional original copies of a criminal record check to a volunteer at no extra cost upon request.
- It states that the Act does not apply in municipalities where police forces do not charge a fee for releasing criminal record checks for volunteers.
- Volunteers
- Organizations that retain the services of volunteers
- Police forces
- Municipalities
- Organizations are prohibited from requiring a criminal record check if a volunteer provides a recent (less than one year old) and most recent check.
- Organizations may require notice of pending criminal proceedings and their dispositions.
- Organizations can request a new criminal record check annually or if there are grounds to believe new convictions exist.
- Police forces are required to provide up to five additional original copies of a criminal record check to a volunteer at no extra charge.
- The Act does not apply in municipalities where police do not charge for volunteer criminal record checks.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Police forces are required to provide up to five additional original copies of a criminal record check to a volunteer at no additional charge.
- The Act does not apply in municipalities where a police force does not charge any fee for releasing a criminal record check for a volunteer.
- The specific authenticity requirements for criminal record checks will be set out in regulations.
- The circumstances under which an organization can require a criminal record check at any time, beyond having actual notice or reasonable grounds to believe a conviction has been added, will be prescribed by regulations.
This bill creates a new law specifically addressing criminal record checks for volunteers.
Source: Explanatory Note
This Act is referenced in the definition of 'criminal record' within the new bill.
Source: Section 2
This Act is referenced in the definition of 'criminal record' within the new bill.
Source: Section 2
This Act is referenced in the definition of 'criminal record' within the new bill.
Source: Section 2
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced