July 17, 2024
On July 8, 2024, North Carolina’s Governor, Roy Cooper, signed Senate Bill 565 (SB 565), which revives a state program concerning expungement and allows it to restart immediately. This measure automatically expunges criminal charges with eligible verdicts. Furthermore, Governor Cooper’s signing means attempts to repeal the entire program instead of amending it have stopped.
Laura Webb, director of the North Carolina Justice Center’s Fair Chance project, shared her thoughts on SB 565. Director Webb said, “The purpose of Senate Bill 565 was to restart automatic expungement with some needed fixes.” When the bill stalled due to differing stances, she commented, “…The bill basically was gutted and rewritten to repeal automatic expungement. This sparked a significant effort, with many people coming forward to fight the repeal.”
The issues concerned the state’s “Second Chances Act.” Among other changes, this Act directed state officials to develop an automatic expungement process for eligible criminal charges. Examples included dismissals and charges resulting in “not responsible” or “not guilty” verdicts. Automatically expunging these records meant the individuals no longer had to make formal requests to the courts.
The law intended to help reduce the impact of these records on an individual’s ability to acquire gainful employment or housing. Unfortunately, the program faced significant challenges, such as an enormous backlog. This backlog led to the state pausing further expungements for two years. Before this decision, the state managed to expunge roughly 400,000 cases through the program.
During the pause, state officials devised a list of recommendations for solving the program’s challenges, such as improving the confidential handling and retaining of records. Last year, the state Senate unanimously voted in favor of a bill to implement these changes. In contrast, the House judiciary committee voted to change the Senate bill by eliminating the automatic expungement process.
This dissonance forced both chambers to come to a resolution on June 26. This dissonance ended with both houses unanimously approving a revised version of the bill. The revision would allow the program to resume with significant changes to improve its efficiency in handling caseloads.
Since the program’s pause, the state has transitioned to a new electronic case management program. This program would allow it to more efficiently manage the large number of cases awaiting expungement, which has grown significantly during the two-year suspension. Despite the program’s improvements, many expect it to take at least a year to work through the backlog.
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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.