Senate Bill 562 Summary

• Creates new expunction pathway (G.S. 15A-145.8) for offenders under 18 at time of offense who committed misdemeanors or Class H-I felonies before December 1, 2019, allowing expunction after sentence completion with no outstanding restitution.

• Grants prosecutors electronic access to expunged records from July 1, 2018 forward for specified expunction statutes, allowing use of expunged convictions for calculating prior record level, habitual offender indictment, and evidentiary purposes.

• Implements automatic expunction by operation of law for dismissed or not guilty charges disposed on or after December 1, 2021, eliminating need for petition filing in those cases.

• Modifies G.S. 15A-145.5 to allow expunction of multiple nonviolent misdemeanors (7-year wait) and one nonviolent felony (10-year wait) with no age limitation, clarifying eligibility criteria and court procedures.

• Establishes $175 filing fee for expunction petitions, with proceeds split between Department of Public Safety ($122.50) and Administrative Office of the Courts ($52.50), exempting indigent petitioners.