House Bill 26-007

This act establishes a statewide process for the sealing and expungement of juvenile criminal records, with the goal of reducing barriers to education, employment, housing, and other opportunities for individuals who have successfully completed their sentences. A juvenile record generally becomes eligible for sealing after all court-ordered requirements have been completed and the individual remains free of new criminal or delinquent offenses for 12 months following a misdemeanor or 24 months following a felony. Homicide offenses, felony sexual offenses, and offenses requiring sex-offender registration are excluded from automatic sealing.

This act generally requires eligible records to be automatically sealed once the court verifies that the applicable requirements have been satisfied, without requiring the individual to file a petition. After a record has been sealed for an additional three years without a new offense, the individual may qualify for expungement. Expungement requires the individual to have remained law-abiding, satisfied restitution requirements or demonstrated financial hardship and good-faith efforts, and shown that expungement serves the interests of justice and rehabilitation. Eligible records may be automatically expunged when eligibility can be verified, although felony records continue to require a petition and judicial review.

Once a record is sealed or expunged, the individual is generally restored to the legal status held before the arrest or adjudication and may state that the underlying offense did not occur, subject to limited disclosure requirements for law enforcement employment, judicial or prosecutorial positions, and circumstances required by state or federal law. The act prohibits government agencies from providing sealed or expunged records to private data brokers or background-check companies, requires related public-school disciplinary records to be sealed in most circumstances, and prohibits public colleges, housing authorities, and state licensing agencies from denying opportunities solely because of a sealed juvenile record. Private entities that knowingly retain or disseminate protected juvenile-record information may face civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation.

This act requires the Judicial Branch and Department of Law to establish procedures and electronic systems for automatically processing eligible records and notifying agencies and affected individuals. Beginning two years after enactment, the Judicial Branch must publicly report information concerning the number of records sealed and expunged, processing times, demographic and geographic trends, implementation challenges, and available recidivism data while protecting personally identifying information. This act was approved March 26, 2026, and is scheduled to take effect August 18, 2026.