ON APRIL 6, 2023, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 1000, AS AMENDED.
AMENDMENT #1 rewrites this bill to add the following to present law relative to expunction:
(1) Effective July 1, 2023, for purposes of this (1)-(3), an "eligible petitioner" means a person who was convicted of a violation of illegal registration or voting, if:
(A) At the time of the filing of the petition for expunction, at least 15 years have elapsed since the completion of the sentence imposed for the offense the person is seeking to have expunged;
(B) The person has fulfilled all requirements of the sentence imposed by the court for the offense the petitioner is seeking to expunge, including payment of all fines, restitution, court costs, and other assessments for the offense; completion of any term of imprisonment or probation for the offense; and meeting all conditions of supervised or unsupervised release for the offense;
(C) The person has not been convicted of a criminal offense that is ineligible for expunction, including federal offenses and offenses in other states, that occurred prior to the offense for which the person is seeking expunction; however, a moving or nonmoving traffic offense is not considered an offense as used in this (1)(C); and
(D) The person has not previously been granted expunction, under provisions governing expunction of certain Class E felonies, for another criminal offense;
(2) A person may petition for expunction of an offense under this bill only one time; and
(3) The following provisions apply to a petition filed under this bill:
(A) A person seeking expunction must petition the court in which the petitioner was convicted of the offense sought to be expunged is filed. Not later than 60 days after service of the petition, the district attorney is authorized to submit recommendations to the court and provide a copy of such recommendations to the petitioner;
(B) Both the petitioner and the district attorney general may file evidence with the court relating to the petition, and the district attorney general is authorized to file evidence relating to the petition under seal for review by the court. Evidence filed under seal by the district attorney general is confidential and is not a public record;
(C) The court is required to enter an order granting or denying the petition no sooner than 61 days after service of the petition upon the district attorney general. Prior to entering an order on the petition, the court must review and consider all evidence submitted by the petitioner and the district attorney general;
(D) If the court denies the petition, then the petitioner is prohibited from filing another such petition until at least two years from the date of the denial;
(E) The petition and proposed order must be prepared by the office of the district attorney general and given to the petitioner to be filed with the clerk of the court. A petitioner is entitled to a copy of the order of expunction and such copy is sufficient proof that the person named in the order is no longer under any disability, disqualification or other adverse consequence resulting from the expunged conviction;
(F) An order of expunction granted pursuant to this bill entitles the petitioner to have all public records of the expunged conviction destroyed, and such an expunction has the legal effect of restoring the petitioner, in the contemplation of the law, to the same status occupied before the arrest, indictment, information, trial and conviction; and
(G) The clerk of the court maintaining records expunged must keep the records confidential. These records can only be used to enhance a sentence if the petitioner is subsequently charged and convicted of another crime. This confidential record is only accessible to the district attorney general, the defendant, the defendant's attorney and the circuit or criminal court judge.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 40-32-101(g)(7), 40-32-101