House Bill No. 2235, introduced by Munson, seeks to amend Oklahoma's laws concerning wrongful convictions and expungement procedures. The bill streamlines the expungement process by allowing hearings to be scheduled within 30 days of filing and requires notification to relevant agencies. It establishes an automatic expungement process for eligible arrest records, detailing the roles of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the courts. Additionally, the bill provides for the waiver of tuition and fees for wrongfully incarcerated individuals and their children, along with guidelines for sealing and unsealing records.

The legislation also amends the Governmental Tort Claims Act, increasing the liability amount for wrongful incarceration claims from $175,000 to a formula of $50,000 multiplied by the years served in prison. It introduces supplemental compensation for those who served time on death row or were released on parole and allows claimants to access group health benefit plan coverage through the Department of Corrections. The bill ensures that any expunged offense will not count as a prior offense for future expungement eligibility. It mandates that the Legislature appropriate funds for health coverage costs and expands the applicability of these provisions to convictions before and after July 1, 2025. The act is set to take effect on July 1, 2025, with an emergency clause for immediate implementation upon passage and approval.

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