Massachusetts 2025-2026 Regular Session

Massachusetts House Bill H2019 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	1 of 1
2	2	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 624 FILED ON: 1/10/2025
3	3	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2019
4	4	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
5	5	_________________
6	6	PRESENTED BY:
7	7	Chynah Tyler
8	8	_________________
9	9	To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
10	10	Court assembled:
11	11	The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
12	12	An Act ensuring equitable access to cannabis related expungement.
13	13	_______________
14	14	PETITION OF:
15	15	NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Chynah Tyler7th Suffolk1/10/2025 1 of 3
16	16	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 624 FILED ON: 1/10/2025
17	17	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2019
18	18	By Representative Tyler of Boston, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2019) of Chynah
19	19	Tyler relative to ensuring equitable access to cannabis related expungement. The Judiciary.
20	20	[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
21	21	SEE HOUSE, NO. 1790 OF 2023-2024.]
22	22	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
23	23	_______________
24	24	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
25	25	(2025-2026)
26	26	_______________
27	27	An Act ensuring equitable access to cannabis related expungement.
28	28	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
29	29	of the same, as follows:
30	30	1 SECTION 1. Section 100K of chapter 276 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018
31	31	2Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking subsection (b) in its entirety and inserting in
32	32	3place thereof the following:-
33	33	4 (b) Any decriminalized offense that is eligible for expungement as provided by this
34	34	5section, shall be expunged forthwith on request of the petitioner without the necessity of further
35	35	6action by the petitioner or a hearing. If the offense was for possession or cultivation of an amount
36	36	7of marijuana decriminalized under section 32L of chapter 94C, section 13 of chapter 94G, or any
37	37	8other law of the commonwealth, any offense for distribution or other offenses arising out of the
38	38	9same incident related to possession or cultivation of said marijuana shall be treated as a single
39	39	10offense for the purposes of this section and shall be expunged along with the decriminalized 2 of 3
40	40	11offense involving possession of marijuana. The court shall have the discretion to order an
41	41	12expungement for other grounds pursuant to this section based on what is in the best interests of
42	42	13justice. Prior to entering an order of expungement pursuant to this section, the court shall hold a
43	43	14hearing if requested by the petitioner or the district attorney. Upon an order of expungement, the
44	44	15court shall enter written findings of fact.
45	45	16 SECTION 2. Section 34 of chapter 94C of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018
46	46	17Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following paragraph:-
47	47	18 The commissioner of the department of correction, and the sheriffs of all county houses
48	48	19of correction shall forthwith review the sentencing mittimus’ of all prisoners in their custody to
49	49	20identify any prisoner held for: (i) a now decriminalized marijuana offense committed before the
50	50	21enactment of chapter 334 of the acts of 2016; or (ii) after the revocation of probation or parole
51	51	22regardless of the nature of the underlying offense, where the only ground for revocation was the
52	52	23prisoner’s possession or use of marijuana and said marijuana offense is no longer a criminal
53	53	24offense. Any prisoner so identified shall be reported to the committee for public counsel services,
54	54	25and the district attorney for the county of the sentencing court, along with a copy of the
55	55	26sentencing mittimus. Any prisoner being held only for sentence under a marijuana offense that is
56	56	27no longer a criminal offense, or held on a probation or parole surrender based only on drug
57	57	28testing or other probation or parole violation regarding the parolee or probationer’s possession or
58	58	29use of marijuana, which is no longer a crime, may apply to the sentencing court for an order of
59	59	30discharge and release. An initial hearing shall be held within ten days of court application, to
60	60	31determine whether any basis other than a marijuana law violation exists for the prisoner’s
61	61	32continued detention. If no other basis exists, the prisoner shall be released forthwith at the initial
62	62	33hearing; if other non-marijuana related cause for custody appears to exist, the prisoner may seek 3 of 3
63	63	34a continuance of the initial hearing to further investigate and present evidence regarding a claim
64	64	35that the only basis for the prisoner’s custody is a conviction or probation or parole surrender for
65	65	36the violation of an expunged or other marijuana offense or the prisoner’s use of marijuana while
66	66	37on probation or parole before such use was decriminalized.
67	67	38 SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage.