House Judiciary panel advances bill to block name-search access to closed nonconviction court records

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Clamine advanced discussion of House Bill 1166, saying the bill would prevent remote name searches of closed criminal cases that did not lead to conviction and that the committee had amended the bill to remove a retroactive application provision.

The bill’s sponsor, Chairman Clamine, told the committee that the core change is in section 2 and that a proposed retroactive sealing requirement in section 3 was removed after testimony that it would force courts to search records going back “100 years or more.” He said the panel instead adopted language preventing remote name searches of closed cases with no conviction: “a record of a closed criminal case, if there was no conviction, may not be remotely accessed by a name search.”

Why it matters: supporters said the change restores language that was removed from the Supreme Court’s administrative rule and would protect people who were…