Bill May Change Expungement Laws

Proposed Wisconsin Expungement Law Changes

2019 MARCH 5. A bill in the hands of the Wisconsin Assembly proposes to change Wisconsin's expungement laws on criminal records.

2019 June 27 Update. The bill, known as AB 335 in the Assembly and S33 in the Senate has not yet been up for vote. It was sent to a conference committee to be written up as a unified bill with the several versions of the proposals. It with then be sent to pass the Assembly again as amended. If both the Assembly and the Senate pass the bill, it will go to the Governor. As a side note... 335 seems likely, but only after the budget.

Propose: Employer Report Mandate Stricken

Under current Wisconsin law, a person whom has successfully received an Expungement of a prior criminal record must report to potential and current employers that 1) they had a criminal record, even though 2) it was expunged. The proposed new law would eliminate the requirement (made by judicial interpretations) that a person must disclose their Expunged criminal record.

Propose: Expungement Without Sentencing Order

Under current Wisconsin laws, a person can only hope to have their criminal record expunged IF and ONLY IF the Court who imposed sentencing also ordered the possibility of Expungement at the time of sentencing. The new law proposes to allow a person to seek Expungement even if the sentencing Court had not previously ordered it. The new law proposes to restrict the number of petitions for Expungement to two.

Propose: Expungement without age restriction

Current Wisconsin law restricts Expungement to people who were 25 years old or younger at the time the crime was committed. The proposal would remove the rules that limit Expungement to people younger than the age of 25 years.

Propose: Expungement Of Certain Driving Offenses

Under current Wisconsin laws, if the arrest would require the Wisconsin department of Transportation to record the offense, then the record would be restricted and unable to be Expunged. Current law prohibits Expungement of OWI (Drunken Driving Offenses) of any type, including OWI's given where no drug or alcohol was involved. The proposal would allow Expungement for certain traffic crimes, according to an analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Propose: If It's To Be Expunged, Remove It

Under current Wisconsin law, if a person request that an Expungement be allowed upon successful completion of their sentence and the Court agrees, the person's record remains public until they complete the sentence and petition the court to have their record removed from public view (CCAP). It isn't clear at this time whether the new bill proposes removing the record, rather than letting it be publicized until the sentence is completed.

Excerpts, Wisconsin Law Journal on March 5, 2019.