(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, when a person is required to submit fingerprints or a fingerprint card to the Department of Justice for a criminal background investigation for purposes of employment, certification, or licensing, and the department determines either that it is impossible for the person to submit fingerprints or that the submitted fingerprints are not legible for identification purposes, the department, in its discretion, shall do either of the following:

1. (1) Make a determination that the person presently is unable to provide legible fingerprints, and therefore shall be deemed to have complied with the statutory requirement to submit fingerprints. The department, using available personal identifying data that the department deems appropriate, shall then conduct a search to determine if the person has a criminal history.
2. (2) Request that the person submit a second set of fingerprints or obtain verification from another law enforcement agency that he or she is unable to provide legible fingerprint impressions either manually or electronically. If the department requests law enforcement verification of the quality of fingerprints that the person is able to provide, it may designate the law enforcement agency that is to provide the verification and provide a form for the verification. If the second set of fingerprints is illegible or if the designated law enforcement agency verifies that the person is unable to submit legible fingerprints, the person shall be deemed to have complied with the statutory requirement to submit fingerprints, and the department, using available personal identifying data it deems appropriate, shall conduct a search to determine if the person has a criminal history.