Conference committee debates judicial review, deferred sentences and agency rules in S 12 sealed-records bill

A Senate Judiciary conference committee met May 20 to compare the Senate and House versions of S 12, the bill that would expand which criminal records may be sealed and set rules for accessing and using those records. Conference members spent most of the session outlining where the two chambers agree and disagree on judicial review, use of sealed records by criminal justice actors, deferred sentences and whether to require a statewide access policy.

The meeting’s central dispute was “the judicial review piece for accessing, using, and disclosing sealed records,” a Senate conferee said, adding, “if we’re taking away expungement and many of these records are going to be sealed now, we want to really make sure that they’re not going to be misused or used in such a way that will affect people’s employment or applications for housing.” The Senate conferee described removing a proposed petition-for-access process and strengthening an exception in subsection (c) to govern when sealed documents could be used in court or public filings.

Representative Malone, a House conferee, said the House worked on exceptions and procedures in the amendment and discussed how court personnel and state systems handle…