May 1, 2025
Hawaii’s Governor, Josh Green, has signed a bill to help streamline the expungement process for those with marijuana-related convictions. This bill follows up on the expungement process introduced as a pilot program in 2024.
The bill in question is House Bill 132 (HB132); it would expand the list of records eligible for expungement to include non-conviction records for Schedule V substances. This drug schedule means there is a low potential for abuse or psychological/physical dependence.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Schedule V substances “consist of preparations containing limited quantities of certain narcotics.” Examples of Schedule V substances include medicines like Robitussin AC; as the DEA defined it, “cough preparations with less than 200 milligrams of codeine or per 100 milliliters (Robitussin AC), Lomotil, Motofen, Lyrica, Parepectolin.”
In 2024, Hawaii implemented a pilot program to instate a state-initiated expungement process. This process allowed the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center (HJDC) to automatically expunge non-conviction arrest records for low-level marijuana possession in Hawaii County. Roughly 14% of the state’s population resides here.
Originally, the legislature considered introducing a program that would have expunged arrest and conviction records for residents statewide. Instead, the Senate Judiciary Committee introduced this more limited pilot program.
At the end of 2024, the HJDC had expunged approximately 81 cases and had another 112 pending an expungement. The agency also had another 414 cases in the review process to determine their eligibility for expungement.
Changes by HB 132 would address an issue that has created a backlog of cases for the state to process. Currently, arrest records do not always specify whether an arrest was for marijuana or any Schedule V drug. Instead, the records receive labels of 712-1249, which vaguely determines that the case involves possession of either three or more grams of marijuana or any amount of a Schedule V drug.
However, many of these records may qualify for expungement. As such, HJDC personnel attempting to process these expungements often must manually search through arrest and court records to verify whether a record qualifies for automatic expungement. HB 132 addressed this issue by eliminating the distinction between marijuana and Schedule V drugs.
By eliminating the distinction between marijuana and Schedule V drugs, personnel will no longer labor under the costly and time-consuming verification process. This reduction would allow HJDC to reduce its backlog of expungements, accelerating the process of finding and expunging eligible records.
Disclaimer:
Information provided here is for educational and informational purposes only and should not constitute as legal advice. We recommend you contact your own legal counsel for any questions regarding your specific practices and compliance with applicable laws.