Senate Judiciary conference committee agrees on S 12 language on use, disclosure of sealed criminal records

May 28 — The Senate Judiciary conference committee reviewed and provisionally agreed on changes in the conference report for S 12 that define who may access sealed criminal history records, require court review before some disclosures outside listed agencies, expand civil penalties for unauthorized disclosures, and direct the Criminal Justice Council to adopt a statewide model policy governing youth criminal history records.

The changes matter because they set a statewide process for when sealed records may be used or passed to parties outside a narrow list of exempted agencies, create new recordkeeping requirements, and change statutory treatment of deferred sentences — all of which affect law enforcement procedures, defense litigation and individuals whose records are sealed or expunged.

Patrick, legislative counsel in the Office of Legislative Counsel, told the committee the proposal keeps a broad list of entities that may use sealed records but creates a second layer of process when an agency intends to disclose the record to another party. "The concept is that the listed agencies and entities can continue to use the sealed records provided they're in this list of exempted parties," Patrick said, adding that the new language requires judicial review before disclosure beyond those…