Level 2 is not a marketing tier that every screening company sells. It is a term defined in Florida statute, and it means a specific fingerprint-based search through specific government channels. Buyers outside Florida use the phrase loosely, which causes real problems when a regulator asks for a Level 2 and an employer produces an ordinary commercial report. This page sets out what it actually is.
What the statute says
Chapter 435 of the Florida Statutes defines two levels of screening. Level 1 is a name-based check of state records. Level 2 is a fingerprint-based state and national criminal history check, run through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and it is what the statute requires for a defined set of positions, largely those involving care of children, the elderly and vulnerable adults. Chapter 435 also lists the disqualifying offences and provides a route by which an applicant may seek an exemption from disqualification.
The channel is the point
The reason an ordinary commercial background check cannot satisfy a Level 2 requirement is that the statute names the channel, not the thoroughness. Level 2 goes through an approved Livescan vendor: the applicant attends a Livescan site, prints are captured electronically and submitted to FDLE and the FBI, and results are returned to the agency or employer qualified to receive them. A commercial provider searching county courts by name and date of birth may well find more than the repository does, and it is still not a Level 2.
Fingerprints and names find different things
A fingerprint search identifies a person biometrically against what was reported into a repository, so it is immune to the identity ambiguity that name-based searching has to work around, and it reaches records across states without an address history to guide it. What it does not do is return what a court holds but never reported up, and repository completeness varies. That is why serious screening programmes in regulated sectors often run both: the fingerprint check because the statute requires it, and county court searching because it finds things the repository does not.
Georgia, and the loose use of the term
Georgia has no Level 2 in the Florida sense. Searches for the phrase alongside Georgia are usually somebody applying a Florida term to a Georgia requirement, most often a fingerprint-based check for a licensed or care role. In Georgia the state repository is the Georgia Crime Information Center, run by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and dissemination is governed by its own statute. If a Georgia regulator or contract asks for a fingerprint-based check, ask which agency and which channel, rather than assuming the Florida framework transfers.
Questions people ask about level 2 background check
What is a level 2 background check?
A Florida statutory term under chapter 435 for a fingerprint-based state and national criminal history check run through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI, required for defined positions involving vulnerable people.
Can a normal background check company do a level 2?
Not as such. The statute names the channel, so it goes through an approved Livescan vendor to FDLE and the FBI. A commercial name-based report is a different product however thorough it is.
What is the difference between level 1 and level 2?
Level 1 is a name-based check of state records. Level 2 is fingerprint-based and covers both state and national records, and it is what the statute requires for care and vulnerable-person roles.
Does Georgia have level 2 checks?
Not under that name. Georgia criminal history comes through the Georgia Crime Information Center under its own rules. If a Georgia requirement calls for fingerprints, confirm which agency and channel rather than assuming Florida's framework applies.