Page 1
February 22, 2022 SB 22-099
Legislative Council Staff
Nonpartisan Services for Colorado’s Legislature
Fiscal Note
Drafting Number:
Prime Sponsors:
LLS 22-0502
Sen. Hisey; Rodriguez
Rep. Tipper
Date:
Bill Status:
Fiscal Analyst:
February 22, 2022
Senate Judiciary
Aaron Carpenter | 303-866-4918
Aaron.Carpenter@state.co.us
Bill Topic: SEALING CRIMINAL RECORDS
Summary of
Fiscal Impact:
☒ State Revenue
☒ State Expenditure
☐ State Transfer
☒ TABOR Refund
☒ Local Government
☐ Statutory Public Entity
The bill requires all records that are eligible to be sealed under current law to be
automatically sealed by July 1, 2024. The bill also prohibits the use of information
received through a sealed record in consumer reports, or to deny someone
employment or housing. The bill increases state and local expenditures and
decreases state revenue on an ongoing basis.
Appropriation
Summary:
For FY 2022-23, the bill requires an appropriation of $842,145 to various state
agencies; see State Appropriations section.
Fiscal Note
Status:
The fiscal note reflects the introduced bill.
Table 1
State Fiscal Impacts Under SB 22-099
Budget Year
FY 2022-23
Out Year
FY 2023-24
Out Year
FY 2024-25
Revenue Cash Funds - ($227,290) ($227,290)
Total Revenue - ($227,290) ($227,290)
Expenditures General Fund $842,145 $7,716,170 $1,069,578
Centrally Appropriated $54,083 $369,532 $201,984
Total Expenditures $896,228 $8,085,702 $1,271,562
Total FTE 0.8 FTE 13.9 FTE 11.9 FTE
Transfers - - -
Other Budget Impacts TABOR Refund - ($227,290) ($227,290)
General Fund Reserve $126,322 $1,157,425 $160,437
Page 2
February 22, 2022 SB 22-099
Summary of Legislation
The bill automatically seals records that are eligible to be sealed under current law, requires consumer
reporting agencies to disclose to customers when a report contains information from criminal justice
records, and makes it an unfair employment practice to discharge or refuse to promote, or to refuse
housing to a person due to contents of a sealed criminal record.
Automatic sealing of criminal records. House Bill 21-1214 established a process to automatically seal
certain criminal records related to drug offenses. The bill expands the eligible offenses for automatic
record sealing to certain offenses that are currently eligible for sealing by petition, including:
civil infractions with four years since the final disposition;
petty offenses or misdemeanors with seven years since the final disposition; and
felonies with ten years since the final disposition.
If the defendant’s records are not automatically sealed, the defendant may still make a motion to seal
at no charge.
The bill requires the State Court Administrator to compile an initial list of eligible cases by
February 1, 2024, and to send that list to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI). After receiving
the list, CBI must compare the list with a criminal history report, complete a comprehensive
fingerprint review, and remove any convictions where identification validation cannot be made or if
the defendant has an intervening conviction during the required waiting period. This must be
completed in 35 days. After removing the required names, the list is forwarded to district attorneys
who have 45 days to remove convictions from the list where the condition of a plea was that the
defendant agreed not to have their conviction record sealed and where the defendant has a pending
criminal charge. After the district attorneys remove the required convictions, the district attorney
must send the final list back to the State Court Administrator who then will send the list to each chief
judge of each judicial district to enter sealing orders. The records on the initial list must be sealed by
July 1, 2024, and a new list must be updated quarterly.
Other process updates. The bill makes several updates to the current non-automatic process for
sealing records. First, the bill requires the court, instead of the defendant, to provide custodians of
the criminal record with a copy of a sealing order. Second, the bill allows defendants to seal their
record even if they have unpaid restitution, fines, court costs, late fees or other fees ordered by the
court.
Sealing municipal violations. The bill allows a defendant to file a motion in which any conviction
records for a municipal violation are located after the date of the final disposition, instead having to
wait three years.
Reports. The bill requires two reports related to automatic sealing. First, the bill requires the Judicial
Department to report on the number of conviction records received and were considered for automatic
sealing by February 1, 2024. In addition, the bill requires the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
to report on the number of arrest records considered for sealing and the number of records that were
sealed.
Page 3
February 22, 2022 SB 22-099
Unfair employment and housing practice. The bill makes it an unfair employment practice and an
unfair housing practice to deny someone employment or housing because of information received
from a sealed criminal record.
Sealed criminal record information in reports. The bill requires a consumer reporting agency to
disclose to each consumer whose report contains information from a sealed criminal record and
prohibits reports from using of records of charges or indictments pending trial, sealed records,
expunged records, or records that did not result in conviction. Finally, the bill removes the exception
of including prohibited information in consumer reports for employment of an individual who is
expected to make at least $75,000.
Background
Under current law there are three main processes to have one’s criminal record sealed: a simplified
process, a petition process, and an automatic process.
Simplified process. Under current law, the court must order a defendant’s criminal justice records
sealed when a case is dismissed; the defendant is acquitted of all counts; the defendant completes a
diversion agreement; or the defendant completes a deferred judgement and sentence and all counts
are dismissed. Defendants who have their records sealed must pay a $65 processing fee.
Petition process. Under current law, a defendant may file a motion to seal their record if:
it has been one year since the final disposition of an eligible petty or drug petty offense;
it has been two years since the final disposition of an eligible class 2, 3, or drug misdemeanor;
it has been three years since the final disposition of an eligible class 4, 5, or 6 felony, level 3 or level
4 drug felony, or a class 1 misdemeanor; or
it has been five years since the final disposition for any other offense that is eligible for sealing.
After receiving the motion, the court must review the motion and determine if there are grounds to
proceed to a hearing. If the motion is sufficient, the court proceeds to a hearing if the motion is sealing
a class 3 misdemeanor or higher. If the motion is for a petty offense or petty drug offense, the court
must order the record sealed. Conviction records cannot be sealed if the defendant still owes
restitution, fines, court costs, late fees, or other fees unless the court vacates the order. Finally,
defendants must pay a $65 processing fee.
Automatic process. House Bill 21-1214 established a process to automatically seal certain drug
convictions if seven years have passed since the disposition of a petty offense or misdemeanor, or
ten years have passed since the disposition of a felony. The process for automatic sealing mirrors the
process outlined in the bill.
Other processes. There are other processes for sealing certain records under current law. This
includes expungement of arrest records of mistaken identity, of arrest records when no charges are
filed, of conviction information for offenses committed by victims of human trafficking, of conviction
records for municipal offenses, of criminal conviction records for multiple convictions, and of criminal
conviction records for offenses that receive a full and unconditional pardon. Page 4
February 22, 2022 SB 22-099
Data and Assumptions
Historical cases eligible for sealing. According to the Judicial Department’s case management
system, there are about 1.5 million cases since 2000 that could be subject to automatic sealing under
the bill. The fiscal note assumes that of these cases, 25 percent of them have sealed their records under
current sealing statutes. Of the remaining 1.125 million, it is assumed that 50 percent of cases, 562,500
cases, will be will be immediately eligible for automatic sealing on the initial list required by the bill.
Yearly cases eligible for sealing. According to the Judicial Department’s case management system,
from 2017 to 2021, there were 273,958 unique cases flagged as being eligible for sealing, or 54,792
annually. The fiscal note therefore assumes that 54,792 cases annually will be sealed starting in
FY 2024-25.
State Revenue
The bill will decrease state cash fund revenue to the Judicial Stabilization Cash Fund in the Judicial
Department and the CBI Identification Unit Cash Fund in the Department of Public Safety (DPS) by
an estimated $227,290 per year starting in FY 2023-24. Estimated revenue decreases are shown in
Table 2 and described below. Revenue collected from the sealing of records is subject to the state’s
TABOR limit.
Table 2
Annual Revenue Impact Under SB 22-099
Type of
Fee
Proposed
Fee
Number
Affected
Total Fee
Impact
Civil Filing Fee $65 (2,674) ($173,810)
CBI Sealing Fee $20 (2,674) ($53,480)
Annual Total ($227,290)
Civil filing fee. The fiscal note assumes that under the bill, there will be 3,415 fewer cases that file
with the court to have records sealed then under current law. Assuming a 25 percent indigency rate,
the fiscal note assumes the Judicial Department will receive 2,674 fewer petitions that pay the
$65 processing fee.
CBI sealing fee. The CBI currently charges a $20 fee to seal cases. Because the bill will automatic seal
the cases without a fee, fee revenue to CBI will decrease. Assuming 2,674 individuals pay the fee,
revenue will decrease by $53,480.
Other court fines and fees. Because the bill removes the requirement that the defendant repay any
fees or fines issued by the court before having their record sealed, revenue from those fees and fines
may decrease. This revenue impact has not been estimated.
Page 5
February 22, 2022 SB 22-099
State Expenditures
The bill increases state expenditures in the Judicial Department and the DPS by $0.9 million in
FY 2022-23, $8.1 million in FY 2023-24, and $1.2 million in FY 2024-25, paid from the General Fund.
Expenditures are shown in Table 2 and detailed below. Any staffing costs identified below include
costs for personal services, operating expenses, and capital outlay as shown in Table 3, with first year
costs prorated for the General Fund pay date shift.
Table 3
Expenditures Under SB 22-099
Cost Components FY 2022-23 FY 2023-24 FY 2024-25
Judicial Department
Personal Services $57,872 $978,812 $210,426
Operating Expenses $760 $15,485 $2,850
Capital Outlay Costs $6,520 $244,279 $1,200
Probation Contract Staff - $90,000 -
IT Modifications $763,993 $1,373,844 $340,000
Centrally Appropriated Costs
1
$54,083 $369,532 $76,264
FTE – Personal Services 0.8 FTE 13.9 FTE 3.0 FTE
Judicial Subtotal $883,228 $3,071,952 $630,740
Department of Public Safety
Personal Services - - $408,228
Operating Expenses - - $13,095
Capital Outlay Costs - - $62,000
IT Modifications $13,000 - -
Postage - $326,250 $31,779
Contract Staff - $4,687,500 -
Centrally Appropriated Costs
1
- - $125,720
FTE – Personal Services - - 8.9 FTE
DPS Subtotal $13,000 $5,013,750 $640,822
Total $896,228 $8,085,702 $1,271,562
Total FTE 0.8 FTE 13.9 FTE 11.9 FTE
1
Centrally appropriated costs are not included in the bill's appropriation.
Page 6
February 22, 2022 SB 22-099
Judicial Department. The bill increases expenditures in the Judicial Department to automatically seal
eligible records, including both the one-time sealing of historical records and annual sealing of newly
eligible records. The bill impacts a variety of divisions within the department, as described below.
Trial courts. The bill increases expenditures in the trial courts in two ways.
First, under the current sealing process, district attorneys may object to a motion for sealing for
anything higher than a class 3 misdemeanor. The fiscal note assumes that district attorneys may
continue filing motions related to sealing, which will require the court to hold a hearing.
Assuming that the district attorneys will object to 1 percent of historical cases, and a hearing to
that objection will take 15 minutes, the trial courts will require 0.7 FTE magistrate, and 2.1 FTE of
support staff, including a court clerk, law clerk, and court reporter in FY 2023-24 only. In future
years, the fiscal note assumes that hearing times require no additional appropriation. Magistrate
costs include funding for law library materials, travel expenses, judge robe expenditures, and
computer hardware and software, as well as furnishings for the judge chambers, law library, jury
room, and conference room.
Second, the bill requires the courts, rather than the defendant, to provide a sealing order to each
custodian. This will require additional clerk staff to enter service information of each case and
will increase postage costs. Assuming it takes five minutes per case to enter all service information
and to provide notice to custodians, the courts will need 11.3 FTE in FY 2023-24, reduced to 2.0 FTE
in FY 2024-25 and ongoing.
State Court Administrator's Office. Starting in FY 2022-23, the State Court Administrator's Office
will require 1.0 FTE to assist in the development of required IT modifications, provide and receive
quarterly lists through the automatic sealing process, to amend lists as necessary, to provide
amended and annotated lists to the chief judges, to research specific cases as needed, provide
technical assistance to both internal and external stakeholders, and to prepare an annual report.
Probation. In FY 2023-24 only, the Probation Division will require temporary contract staff to seal
historical records that are stored digitally. The fiscal note assumes that out of the assumed
historical cases identified, 225,000 will have records with the Probation Division. Assuming that
it takes 1 minute per case to mark any digital records sealed, the division will require 3,750 hours
of contract work at an estimated rate of $24 per hour. This amount assumes the division will have
two months to seal records by July 1, 2024.
Information technology. Starting in FY 2022-23 the Judicial Department will modify its IT
systems to allow for the department to send out an expanded list of eligible cases for sealing, to
develop various data transfers between different databases and parties, to process and send
sealing orders to parties that opt into the system, to enter proper sealing codes automatically, and
to disaggregate race and ethnicity data for the required report. These modifications are estimated
at a cost of $763,993 in FY 2022-23, $1.4 million in FY 2023-24, and $340,000 in FY 2024-25 and
ongoing for licensing costs.
Page 7
February 22, 2022 SB 22-099
Department of Public Safety. Starting in FY 2022-23, expenditures in the DPS will increase to
compare a list of eligible records for sealing and to expunge records, as described below.
Initial list. In FY 2023-24 only, expenditures in the DPS will increase by $5.0 million. This includes
$4.7 million to hire contract staff to compare the initial list to CBI’s records and to conduct any
necessary research on intervening convictions. As discussed in the Assumptions section, this
assumes that each of the 562,500 records takes on average 20 minutes at an estimated contract rate
of $25 per hour. In addition, postage cost within the DPS will increase to provide confirmation
that a defendant’s record has been sealed at $0.58 per document.
Ongoing list checks. Starting in FY 2024-25, the DPS will require 9.7 FTE to review the quarterly
lists and to conduct necessary research to ensure there has not been an intervening conviction.
Postage costs will also increase to provide confirmation to the defendant that the record has been
sealed.
Computer programing. In FY 2022-23 only, the department requires $13,000 to update its crime
record system to seal cases that are eligible for sealing.
Employment complaints. Workload will increase in the Colorado Department of Regulatory
Agencies to investigate, review, and resolve complaints from individuals who believe that a sealed
record was used in a prohibited manner relating to their employment or potential employment.
Preliminarily, it is assumed that this work can be accomplished within existing appropriations.
Centrally appropriated costs. Pursuant to a Joint Budget Committee policy, certain costs associated
with this bill are addressed through the annual budget process and centrally appropriated in the Long
Bill or supplemental appropriations bills, rather than in this bill. These costs, which include employee
insurance and supplemental employee retirement payments, are shown in Table 2.
Other Budget Impacts
TABOR refunds. The bill is expected to decrease the amount of state revenue required to be
refunded to taxpayers by the amounts shown in the State Revenue section. This estimate assumes the
December 2021 LCS revenue forecast. A forecast of state revenue subject to TABOR is not available
beyond FY 2023-24. Because TABOR refunds are paid from the General Fund, decreased cash fund
revenue will increase the amount of General Fund available to spend or save.
General Fund reserve. Under current law, an amount equal to 15 percent of General Fund
appropriations must be set aside in the General Fund statutory reserve beginning in FY 2022-23. Based
on this fiscal note, the bill is expected to increase the amount of General Fund held in reserve as shown
in Table 1, which will decrease the amount of General Fund available for other purposes.
Local Government
Starting in FY 2023-24, expenditures and workload within local district attorney offices will increase
to review the initial list eligible records, to object to any record, to attend any hearings due to the
objection, and to seal any records identified in the list. The exact increase will depend on district Page 8
February 22, 2022 SB 22-099
attorney office and the amount of records they must review. For information purposes, it is estimated
that it would cost up to $24 per case to review the list, conduct any research, and to track any objection.
Some cases may cost less if there is no objection or if less research is necessary. Local district attorney
offices are funded by the counties located within each judicial district.
Effective Date
The bill takes effect 90 days following adjournment of the General Assembly sine die, assuming no
referendum petition is filed.
State Appropriations
For FY 2022-23, the bill requires the following appropriations from the General Fund:
$829,145 to the Judicial Department and 0.8 FTE; and
$13,000 to the Department of Public Safety.
Departmental Difference
The Department of Public Safety estimates that the bill will cost $7.5 million in FY 2022-23 and
$10.8 million ongoing starting in FY 2023-24. This is based on the assumption that 1.0 FTE can review
1,167 records in one year and that the DPS will seal 112,500 records per year. Due to the bill's
deadlines, the fiscal note includes $4.7 million in contractor costs in FY 2023-24 only for review of
historical cases assuming that each review will take an average of 20 minutes and must be completed
by the close of FY 2023-24.
State and Local Government Contacts
District Attorneys Information Technology Judicial
Law Public Safety Regulatory Agencies
The revenue and expenditure impacts in this fiscal note represent changes from current law under the bill for each
fiscal year. For additional information about fiscal notes, please visit: leg.colorado.gov/fiscalnotes.