Fresh Start Act of 2023

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2983 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2983

To amend the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to establish grants 
     for States for purposes of modernizing criminal justice data 
infrastructure to facilitate automated record sealing and expungement, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 27, 2023

 Mr. Trone (for himself, Ms. Mace, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mr. Bacon, Mr. 
 Fitzpatrick, Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Crenshaw, Ms. Scanlon, Mr. Harder of 
   California, Mr. Meuser, Ms. Kuster, Mr. Wenstrup, and Ms. Norton) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to establish grants 
     for States for purposes of modernizing criminal justice data 
infrastructure to facilitate automated record sealing and expungement, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fresh Start Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. IMPLEMENTATION OF EXPUNGEMENT LAWS.

    Section 106(b) of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (34 
U.S.C. 40302(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period and 
                inserting ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(E) to implement a covered expungement law.''; 
                and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Covered expungement laws.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) The term `automatic' means, with regard to 
                the expungement or sealing of a criminal record, that 
                such expungement or sealing occurs without any action 
                required on the part of the State from an eligible 
                individual.
                    ``(B) The term `covered expungement law' means a 
                law of a State providing for the automatic expungement 
                or sealing, subject to such requirements as the State 
                may impose (including provisions ensuring continued 
                access to the expunged or sealed material by courts and 
                law enforcement agencies), of a criminal record of an 
                individual, without delay by reason of a failure to pay 
                a fee or fine.
            ``(4) Reporting requirements.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A State receiving a grant under 
                this section shall report to the Attorney General, each 
                year of the grant term, pursuant to guidelines 
                established by the Attorney General, information 
                regarding the following:
                            ``(i) The number of individuals eligible 
                        for automatic expungement or sealing under the 
                        covered expungement law of that State, 
                        disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender.
                            ``(ii) The number of individuals whose 
                        records have been expunged or sealed annually 
                        since the enactment of such law, disaggregated 
                        by race, ethnicity, and gender.
                            ``(iii) The number of individuals whose 
                        application for expungement or sealing under 
                        such law are still pending, disaggregated by 
                        race, ethnicity, and gender.
                    ``(B) Inaccessibility of data for reporting.--In 
                the event that elements of the data on expungement and 
                sealing required to be reported under subparagraph 
                (A)(i) are not able to be compiled and reported, the 
                State shall develop and report a comprehensive plan to 
                obtain as much of the unavailable data as possible not 
                later than the date that is one year after the first 
                year of the grant being awarded.
                    ``(C) Publication.--Not later than 1 year after the 
                date of enactment of this paragraph, and each year 
                thereafter, the Attorney General shall publish, and 
                make available to the public, a report containing the 
                data reported to the Attorney General under this 
                subparagraph.''.
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