HB0212 • 2021

Expungement for restoration of rights.

AN ACT relating to criminal procedure; reducing the waiting period for expungement of felony and misdemeanor convictions; specifying applicability; and providing for an effective date.

Crime

Inactive

Wyoming marks this bill as inactive, which usually means it is no longer moving in the current session.

Sponsor: Representative Provenza
Last action: 2021-04-07
Official status: inactive
Effective date: 3/1/2021

Plain English Breakdown

The candidate explanation includes details about status misdemeanors that are not clearly supported by the provided official source material.

Reducing Time for Expungement of Criminal Records

The bill reduces the waiting period before someone can ask a court to remove their misdemeanor or felony conviction from public records.

What This Bill Does

Changes the time people must wait after being convicted of a non-status misdemeanor before they can ask for expungement (removal) of their criminal record from five years to three years.
Shortens the waiting period for those with felonies and status misdemeanors from ten years to five years before they can petition for expungement.
Allows anyone who was previously convicted and wants to apply for expungement under this new law to do so immediately, even if their conviction happened before the bill's effective date.

Who It Names or Affects

People with misdemeanor convictions in Wyoming
People with felony convictions in Wyoming

Terms To Know

Expungement: The process of removing criminal records from public view, making it as if the conviction never happened.
Conviction: When a court officially declares someone guilty of a crime.

Limits and Unknowns

This bill is marked as inactive in Wyoming and was not passed into law.
The bill does not specify what happens to people who were convicted before the new waiting periods but after the original ones, without clear guidance on how they should proceed.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

HB0212HS001

Standing Committee • House Judiciary Committee

Adopted

Plain English: The amendment approves the substitute version of HB0212 which was previously proposed.

Approves the revised bill that reduces waiting periods for expungement of criminal convictions.

The official text does not provide specific details about the changes in the substitute bill, only that it is being approved.

Bill History

2021-04-07 Senate
S:Died in Committee Returned Bill Pursuant to SR 5-4
2021-04-01 Senate
S No report prior to CoW Cutoff
2021-03-18 Senate
S Introduced and Referred to S01 - Judiciary
2021-03-18 Senate
S Received for Introduction
2021-03-17 House
H 3rd Reading:Passed 41-19-0-0-0
2021-03-12 House
H 2nd Reading:Passed
2021-03-11 House
H COW:Passed
2021-03-09 House
H Placed on General File
2021-03-09 House
H01 - Judiciary:Recommend Amend and Do Pass 8-1-0-0-0
2021-03-05 House
H Introduced and Referred to H01 - Judiciary
2021-03-04 House
H Received for Introduction
2021-03-02 LSO
Bill Number Assigned

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

21LSO-0457
2021
STATE OF WYOMING
21LSO-0457
ENGROSSED
3.0

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0212

Expungement for restoration of rights.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Provenza, Burt, Clifford, Olsen and Wharff and Senator(s) Salazar

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to criminal procedure; reducing the waiting period for expungement of felony and misdemeanor convictions; specifying applicability; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1
.

W.S. 7
‑
13
‑
1501(a)(i) and 7
‑
13
‑
1502(a)(i)(intro) are amended to read:

7
‑
13
‑
1501.

Petition for expungement of records of conviction of certain misdemeanors; filing fee; notice; objections; hearing; definitions; exceptions.

(a)

A person who has pled guilty or nolo contendere to or been convicted of a misdemeanor may petition the convicting court for an expungement of the records of conviction, subject to the following limitations:

(i)

At least
five (5)
three (3)
years have passed for
nonstatus
offenses and at least one (1) year has passed for status offenses as defined by W.S. 7
‑
1
‑
107(b)(iii) since the expiration of the terms of sentence imposed by the court, including any periods of probation or the completion of any program ordered by the court;

7
‑
13
‑
1502.

Petition for expungement of records of conviction of certain felonies; filing fee; notice; objections; hearing; definitions; restoration of rights.

(a)

A person convicted of a felony or felonies subject to expungement under this section arising out of the same occurrence or related course of events, may petition the convicting court for an expungement of the records of conviction, subject to the following limitations:

(i)

At least
ten (10)
five (5)
years have passed since:

Section 2.

A person convicted of a felony or misdemeanor subject to expungement under W.S. 7
‑
13
‑
1501 or 7
‑
13
‑
1502 before the effective date of this act shall be entitled to expungement under the timeframe provided by this act.

Section 3
.

This act is effective July 1, 2021
.

(END)

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HB0212