Committee advances bill to seal eviction records after seven years

The House Housing & Community Development Committee advanced House Bill 1095, which would seal eviction records after seven years, aligning limited-access evictions with the treatment of bankruptcies and foreclosures.

Representative Smith Wadell, the bill's sponsor, told the committee the measure is the product of roughly a year of negotiations with housing stakeholders. "The bill that we have, seeks to make limited access evictions after 7 years, bringing them in line with bankruptcies and foreclosures. And the product that we have at this time, is the the result of about a year of diligent negotiation, with partners all across the spectrum from the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania to the Apartment Association, to the Realtors," Smith Wadell said.

Committee members expressed support and noted outstanding operational questions. Chairman Irvin said he supported the bill and asked staff to consider how federal credit reporting practices might interact with the proposal: "I do actually think that, this is a very good bill ... I'm hoping that we can sort of iron any of that out" with regard to credit reporting agencies, he said.

Dina, the committee clerk, conducted a roll-call vote. A majority of members recorded yes votes and Representative Kephart recorded a no vote. The chair announced that the bill "will be reported as committed 20 three-two-three," and the committee adjourned.

Representative Smith Wadell said the bill aims to make it easier for tenants to access housing by limiting the public availability of eviction records after a seven-year period.