Montanans want to allow some convicts to clear misdemeanor records
HELENA — A Bozeman Democrat and Wilsall Republican have teamed up on a bill to allow certain misdemeanors to be cleared from a person’s record after completing sentencing terms and a wait period with no new offenses.
“I like to call it the Montana Clean Slate Act,” Rep. Zach Brown of Bozeman said when introducing the bill to the House Judiciary Committee on Friday.
If a person is not convicted of any new offenses in five years after completing their sentence, House Bill 168 would allow someone to petition district court to clear records of arrest, investigation, detention and court proceedings in a particular case.
The request could only be made once by each person. The ability to expunge records would not be available to people with two or more convictions of assault or family member assault. An amendment proposed by the sponsors also would not allow expungement of traffic violations, such as drunken driving.
Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/government-and-politics/democrat-republican-want-to-allow-some-convicts-to-clear-misdemeanor/article_ac1e9d94-0983-594f-9b72-f484df41d38d.html
