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Committee hears changes to expungement reform bill; sponsors keep core provisions and pare back some expansions
Summary
Senate Bill 432 would reverse a court decision on eligibility after completion of supervision, expand the list of expungible charges in specific instances, and expand shielding on Judiciary Case Search while removing several other proposed additions.
Senate Bill 432, the expungement reform measure, would reverse an appellate decision and expand eligibility and shielding in Maryland’s expungement law while making other targeted changes.
Miles Hicks, deputy legislative officer to the governor, told the House Judiciary Committee the bill retains three principal elements: first, it would reverse the Abishehk appellate decision and clarify that completion of probation, parole or court-ordered supervision makes an individual eligible for expungement; second, it would add certain offenses (driving without a license, using a stolen credit card, obtaining property or services by bad check) to the list of expungible charges as amended; and third, it would expand the dispositions removed from public view on Judiciary Case Search, including some convictions that were part of the governor’s canvass pardon, with an effective date the judiciary requested be moved back 30 days.
Hicks said several offenses originally proposed for inclusion (counterfeiting prescription, resisting arrest, making false statements to an officer and making false statements while under arrest) were removed after stakeholder concerns about plea-downs and practical consequences.
Delegates questioned specific code citations proposed for addition; Hicks offered to coordinate with the committee on adjustments. Testimony concluded without a final committee vote; sponsors said written testimony included a crosswalk of code sections and offered to work with staff on technical fixes.
