Legislation to extend Kentucky’s expungement program to additional people convicted of low-level felonies advanced out of a state Senate committee Thursday.
Senator Jimmy Higdon, who sponsored the measure and testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, said this is not a soft on crime issue, but a jobs issue which is what brought him to work on expungements.
Senate Bill 57 would allow discretionary expungement of additional Class D felonies not involving sex abuse, breach of public office or crimes against children. Higdon said it would also include a 10-year waiting period. Another provision of the bill outlines how the state would handle expungement requests for crimes committed before 1975 when Kentucky changed the penal code.
According to Higdon, one of the biggest complaints about the current expungement program is the $500 fee to apply for the program. Senate Bill 57 would keep the fee but establish a payment program to make it more affordable to low-income citizens.
Senate President Robert Stivers II explained in a release that the bill would expand who would be eligible for expungements under House Bill 40, passed during the 2016 Regular Session. He said HB 40 already allows for the restoration of voting rights and gun rights to people who have successfully had their records expunged.
Higdon said there have been about 2,000 expungements granted and 300 denied since the enactment of House Bill 40.
Senate Bill 57 now goes to the full Senate for further consideration.
