How can we legally use public records to make hiring decisions?

Q. I have used public records before making post-employment job offers (after an individual has accepted and acknowledged with signature), but never before the offer or an interview. I am aware of the general rules regarding consumer credit reporting and background screening, but I don't know of any specifics regarding public state or local records. Each of these are public sites. My first inclination is that we cannot use these public records for pre-employment decisions without following the guidelines of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. However, would utilizing a public record pre-hire or even pre-interview actually violate an individual's rights under consumer credit reporting or any other federal or state law? (We're based in Oklahoma but operate in five other states. – Charlie, Oklahoma