A bipartisan package was announced that would expand the state’s expungement laws, with the hopes of providing a fresh start to thousands of residents. Current law allows people with certain convictions to petition for the expungement of one felony or two misdemeanors after being free of contact from the court system for a minimum of five years. Proposed reforms to that law include:

• • A person with up to three felonies may apply to have all their convictions set aside if none of the convictions are for an assaultive crime. If the person has an assaultive crime on their record, they can apply to have up to two felonies and four misdemeanors set aside.
  • Establish automatic expungement for certain offenders who would otherwise qualify for expungement via petition if none of the convictions are for an assaultive crime or serious misdemeanor and all are punishable by less than 10 years imprisonment.
  • People with misdemeanor marijuana convictions would be able to petition to have the convictions set aside if the behavior that led to the conviction is permissible under current law.
  • For the purposes of expungement, crimes similar in nature that were committed in the same act may be treated as a single felony if none of the crimes were assaultive, none of the crimes involved the possession of a weapon, and none of the crimes had a maximum penalty greater than 10 years.
  • Allow for the expungement of some traffic offenses, however, offenses such as DUI/OWI and other traffic crimes causing serious injury or death would not qualify.
  • Under the plan, an application to set aside more than one felony could be filed after seven years; an application to set aside a “serious misdemeanor” or single felony could be filed after five years; and an application to set aside other misdemeanors with no felonies could be filed after three years.

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