Fresh Start Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2983 To amend the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to establish grants for States for purposes of modernizing criminal justice data infrastruc- ture to facilitate automated record sealing and expungement, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 27, 2023 Mr. TRONE (for himself, Ms. MACE, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. BACON, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. ARMSTRONG, Mr. CRENSHAW, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. HARDER of California, Mr. MEUSER, Ms. KUSTER, Mr. WENSTRUP, and Ms. NORTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to establish grants for States for purposes of modernizing criminal justice data infrastructure to facilitate auto- mated record sealing and expungement, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fresh Start Act of 4 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:48 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2983.IH H2983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2983 IH SEC. 2. IMPLEMENTATION OF EXPUNGEMENT LAWS. 1 Section 106(b) of the Brady Handgun Violence Pre- 2 vention Act (34 U.S.C. 40302(b)) is amended— 3 (1) in paragraph (1)— 4 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking 5 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 6 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 7 period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 8 (C) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(E) to implement a covered expungement 10 law.’’; and 11 (2) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(3) COVERED EXPUNGEMENT LAWS.—In this 13 subsection: 14 ‘‘(A) The term ‘automatic’ means, with re- 15 gard to the expungement or sealing of a crimi- 16 nal record, that such expungement or sealing 17 occurs without any action required on the part 18 of the State from an eligible individual. 19 ‘‘(B) The term ‘covered expungement law’ 20 means a law of a State providing for the auto- 21 matic expungement or sealing, subject to such 22 requirements as the State may impose (includ- 23 ing provisions ensuring continued access to the 24 expunged or sealed material by courts and law 25 enforcement agencies), of a criminal record of 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:48 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2983.IH H2983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2983 IH an individual, without delay by reason of a fail- 1 ure to pay a fee or fine. 2 ‘‘(4) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State receiving a 4 grant under this section shall report to the At- 5 torney General, each year of the grant term, 6 pursuant to guidelines established by the Attor- 7 ney General, information regarding the fol- 8 lowing: 9 ‘‘(i) The number of individuals eligible 10 for automatic expungement or sealing 11 under the covered expungement law of that 12 State, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and 13 gender. 14 ‘‘(ii) The number of individuals whose 15 records have been expunged or sealed an- 16 nually since the enactment of such law, 17 disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gen- 18 der. 19 ‘‘(iii) The number of individuals 20 whose application for expungement or seal- 21 ing under such law are still pending, 22 disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gen- 23 der. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:48 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2983.IH H2983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2983 IH ‘‘(B) INACCESSIBILITY OF DATA FOR RE- 1 PORTING.—In the event that elements of the 2 data on expungement and sealing required to be 3 reported under subparagraph (A)(i) are not 4 able to be compiled and reported, the State 5 shall develop and report a comprehensive plan 6 to obtain as much of the unavailable data as 7 possible not later than the date that is one year 8 after the first year of the grant being awarded. 9 ‘‘(C) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 1 10 year after the date of enactment of this para- 11 graph, and each year thereafter, the Attorney 12 General shall publish, and make available to the 13 public, a report containing the data reported to 14 the Attorney General under this subpara- 15 graph.’’. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:48 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2983.IH H2983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS