AB 37

Under current law, a court may order a person's criminal record expunged of a

crime if all of the following apply:

1. The maximum term of imprisonment for the crime is six years or less (Class

H felony and below).

2. The person committed the crime before the age of 25.

3. The person had not been previously convicted of a felony.

4. The crime was not a violent felony.

Current law specifies that the expungement order must be made only at

sentencing and then the record is expunged when the person completes his or her

sentence.

This bill removes the condition that the person committed the crime before the

age of 25. (The bill retains the requirements that the crime be no greater than a Class

H felony, the person had no previous felony convictions, and the crime was not a

violent felony.) The bill makes certain crimes ineligible for expungement, such as

traffic crimes, the crime of violating a domestic abuse restraining order or injunction,

criminal trespass, and criminal damage to a business. The bill also allows the

sentencing court to order that a person's record not be eligible for expungement.

The bill also provides that, if the sentencing court did not order the record

expunged, the person may file a petition with the sentencing court after he or she

completes his or her sentence. Upon receipt of the petition, the court must review

the petition and then may order the record expunged or may deny the petition. If the

court denies the petition, the person may not file another petition for two years. The

person must pay a $100 fee to the county for a second petition, and no person may

file more than two petitions per crime. The bill limits a person to one expungement.

The changes described in this paragraph retroactively apply to persons who were

convicted of a crime before the bill takes effect.

The bill provides that, if a record is expunged of a crime, that crime is not

considered a conviction for employment purposes and specifies that employment

discrimination because of a conviction record includes requesting a person to supply

information regarding a crime if the record has been expunged of the crime. Finally,

the bill provides that it is not employment discrimination because of conviction

record for the Law Enforcement Standards Board to consider a conviction that has

been expunged with respect to applying any standard or requirement for the

certification, decertification, or required training of law enforcement officers, tribal

law enforcement officers, jail officers, and juvenile detention officers.