Under existing law, a court is authorized to defer proceedings for certain defendants and place the defendant on probation upon certain terms and conditions that must include the attendance and successful completion of certain programs. Upon fulfillment of the terms and conditions, with certain exceptions, the court is required, in certain circumstances, and authorized, under other circumstances, to set aside the judgment of conviction. (NRS 176A.240, 176A.260, 176A.290) Section 2 of this bill authorizes a person convicted of certain criminal offenses to apply to the court to have the judgment of conviction set aside and receive a certificate of second chance. If the court grants the application to have the judgment set aside, section 2 provides that the person must, with certain exceptions, be released from all penalties imposed from the conviction.
Section 3 of this bill provides that if the court grants the application to have the judgment of conviction set aside and the person was convicted of certain offenses, the court must include a certificate of second chance which: (1) removes any disqualification from obtaining a professional or occupational license on the basis of the criminal history of the person; and (2) prohibits the criminal conviction from being introduced as evidence in certain negligent hiring actions or housing actions. Section 6 of this bill requires a regulatory body to recognize a certificate of second chance as removing any disqualification for a person with a criminal history from obtaining a license from the regulatory body.
Under existing law, the State Forester Firewarden, in cooperation with the Department of Corrections, is required to establish and carry out a program for operating conservation camps in this State which may use offenders who meet certain requirements to perform certain work, including firefighting. (NRS 209.457) Section 5 of this bill requires the State Forester Firewarden to establish a hiring program to appoint without competition former offenders who performed firefighting work in such conservation camps to firefighting positions in the Division of Forestry of the State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Under existing law, a position in the classified service of the Executive Department of the State Government may be filled without competition only under certain circumstances. (NRS 284.305) Section 4 of this bill provides that the hiring program established by the State Forester Firewarden pursuant to section 5 is an exception to this requirement.