Senate Bill 2357 - Expungement Consolidation Summary

• Creates unified expungement statute consolidating multiple existing expungement laws, defining expungement as deletion of criminal offense records from public records by court order.

• Permits first-offender misdemeanor convictions to be expunged immediately; allows expungement of multiple misdemeanors after two years of good conduct; prohibits expungement of law enforcement confidential records and driving records.

• Allows felony expungement five years after sentence completion for one felony conviction, with exceptions for crimes of violence, arson, drug trafficking, DUI offenses, sex offender registration violations, and embezzlement.

• Permits expungement of first-offense DUI convictions five years after completion of sentence if offender did not refuse testing, had blood alcohol below 0.16%, and had no prior DUI convictions or previous nonadjudication.

• Establishes $150 filing fee for circuit/county court expungements ($140 to state general fund, $10 to clerk); mandates Interstate Identification Index background checks and maintenance of confidential expungement records accessible only to prosecutors and law enforcement.