EXPLANATION-Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in this bill is not enacted
and is intended to be omitted in the law.
FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 692
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR MAY.
2655S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
AN ACT
To repeal section 610.140, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to
expungement.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 610.140, RSMo, is repealed and one new 1
section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 610.140, 2
to read as follows:3
610.140. 1. For the purposes of this section, the 1
following terms mean: 2
(1) "Court", any Missouri municipal, associate 3
circuit, or circuit court; 4
(2) "Crime", any offense, violation, or infraction of 5
Missouri state, county, municipal, or administrative law; 6
(3) "Prosecutor" or "prosecuting attorney", the 7
prosecuting attorney, circuit attorney, or municipal 8
prosecuting attorney. 9
2. (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law and 10
subject to the provisions of this section, any person may 11
apply to any court in wh ich such person was charged or found 12
guilty of any crimes for an order to expunge records of such 13
arrest, plea, trial, or conviction. 14
(2) Subject to the limitations of subsection 13 of 15
this section, a person may apply to have one or more crimes 16
expunged if each such crime occurred within the state of 17
Missouri and was prosecuted under the jurisdiction of a 18 SB 692 2
Missouri court, so long as such person lists all the crimes 19
he or she is seeking to have expunged in the petition and so 20
long as all such crimes are not excluded under subsection 3 21
of this section. 22
(3) If the crimes sought to be expunged were committed 23
as part of the same course of criminal conduct, the person 24
may include all such related crimes in the petition, 25
regardless of the lim its of subsection 13 of this section, 26
and those related crimes shall only count as the highest 27
level for the purpose of determining current and future 28
eligibility for expungement. 29
3. The following crimes shall not be eligible for 30
expungement under this section: 31
(1) Any class A felony offense; 32
(2) Any dangerous felony as that term is defined in 33
section 556.061; 34
(3) Any offense that requires registration as a sex 35
offender; 36
(4) Any felony offense where death is an element of 37
the offense; 38
(5) Any felony offense of assault; misdemeanor or 39
felony offense of domestic assault; or felony offense of 40
kidnapping; 41
(6) Any offense listed, previously listed, or is a 42
successor to an offense in chapter 566 or section 105.45 4, 43
105.478, 115.631, 130.028, 188.030, 188.080, 191.677, 44
194.425, 217.385, 334.245, 375.991, 389.653, 455.085, 45
455.538, 557.035, 565.120, 565.130, 565.156, 566.093, 46
566.111, 566.115, 566.116, 568.020, 568.030, 568.032, 47
568.045, 568.060, 568.065, 568.1 75, 569.040, 569.050, 48
569.055, 569.060, 569.065, 569.067, 569.072, 569.160, 49
570.025, 570.090, 570.180, 570.223, 570.224, 570.310, 50 SB 692 3
571.020, 571.060, 571.063, 571.070, 571.072, 571.150, 51
573.200, 573.205, 574.070, 574.105, 574.115, 574.120, 52
574.130, 574.140, 575.040, 575.095, 575.153, 575.155, 53
575.157, 575.159, 575.195, 575.200, 575.210, 575.220, 54
575.230, 575.240, 575.353, 577.078, 577.703, 577.706, or 55
632.520; 56
(7) Any offense eligible for expungement under section 57
610.130; 58
(8) Any intoxication-related traffic or boating 59
offense as defined in section 577.001, or any offense of 60
operating an aircraft with an excessive blood alcohol 61
content or while in an intoxicated condition; 62
(9) Any ordinance violation that is the substantial 63
equivalent of any offense that is not eligible for 64
expungement under this section; 65
(10) Any violation of any state law or county or 66
municipal ordinance regulating the operation of motor 67
vehicles when committed by an individual who has been issued 68
a commercial driver's license or is required to possess a 69
commercial driver's license issued by this state or any 70
other state; and 71
(11) Any offense of section 571.030, except any 72
offense under subdivision (1) of subsection 1 of section 73
571.030 where the person was convicted or found guilty prior 74
to January 1, 2017, or any offense under subdivision (4) of 75
subsection 1 of section 571.030. 76
4. The petition shall name as defendants all law 77
enforcement agencies, courts, prosecuting or circuit 78
attorneys, central state repositories of criminal records, 79
or others who the petitioner has reason to believe may 80
possess the records subject to expungement for each of the 81
crimes listed in the petition. The court's order of 82 SB 692 4
expungement shall not affect any person or entity not named 83
as a defendant in the action. 84
5. The petition shall include the following 85
information: 86
(1) The petitioner's: 87
(a) Full name; 88
(b) Sex; 89
(c) Race; 90
(d) Driver's license number, if applicable; and 91
(e) Current address; 92
(2) Each crime for which the petitioner is requesting 93
expungement; 94
(3) The approximate date the petitioner was charged 95
for each crime; and 96
(4) The name of the county where the petitioner was 97
charged for each crime and if any of the crimes occurred in 98
a municipality, the name of the municipality for each crime; 99
and 100
(5) The case number and name of the court for each 101
crime. 102
6. The clerk of the court shall give notice of the 103
filing of the petition to the office of the prosecuting 104
attorney that prosecuted the crimes listed in the petition. 105
If the prosecuting attorney objects to the petition for 106
expungement, he or she shall do so in writing within thirty 107
days after receipt of service. Unless otherwise agreed upon 108
by the parties, the court shall hold a hearing within sixty 109
days after any written objection is filed, giving reasonable 110
notice of the hearing to the petitioner. If no objection 111
has been filed within thirty days after receipt of service, 112
the court may set a hearing on the matter and shall give 113
reasonable notice of the hearing to each entity named in the 114 SB 692 5
petition. At any hearing, the court may accept evidence and 115
hear testimony on, and may consider, the following criteria 116
for each of the crimes listed in the petition for 117
expungement: 118
(1) At the time the petition is filed, it has been at 119
least three years if the offense is a felony, or at least 120
one year if the offense is a misdemeanor, municipal 121
violation, or infract ion, from the date the petitioner 122
completed any authorized disposition imposed under section 123
557.011 for each crime listed in the petition; 124
(2) At the time the petition is filed, the person has 125
not been found guilty of any other misdemeanor or fel ony, 126
not including violations of the traffic regulations provided 127
under chapters 301, 302, 303, 304, and 307, during the time 128
period specified for the underlying crime in subdivision (1) 129
of this subsection; 130
(3) The person has satisfied all obliga tions relating 131
to any such disposition, including the payment of any fines 132
[or], but not including, the payment of any restitution; 133
(4) The person does not have charges pending; 134
(5) The petitioner's habits and conduct demonstrate 135
that the petitioner is not a threat to the public safety of 136
the state; and 137
(6) The expungement is consistent with the public 138
welfare and the interests of justice warrant the expungement. 139
A pleading by the petitioner that such petitioner meets the 140
requirements of subdivisions (5) and (6) of this subsection 141
shall create a rebuttable presumption that the expungement 142
is warranted so long as the criteria contained in 143
subdivisions (1) to (4) of this subsection are otherwise 144
satisfied. The burden shall shift to the prosecuting 145 SB 692 6
attorney or circuit attorney to rebut the presumption. A 146
victim of a crime listed in the petition shall have an 147
opportunity to be heard at any hearing held under this 148
section. A court may find that the continuing impact of the 149
offense upon the victim rebuts the presumption that 150
expungement is warranted. 151
7. A petition to expunge records related to an arrest 152
for an eligible crime may be made in accordance with the 153
provisions of this section to a court of competent 154
jurisdiction in the county where the petitioner was arrested 155
no earlier than eighteen months from the date of arrest; 156
provided that, during such time, the petitioner has not been 157
charged and the petitioner has not been found guilty of any 158
misdemeanor or felony of fense. 159
8. If the court determines that such person meets all 160
the criteria set forth in subsection 6 of this section for 161
each of the crimes listed in the petition for expungement, 162
the court shall enter an order of expungement. In all cases 163
under this section, the court shall issue an order of 164
expungement or dismissal within six months of the filing of 165
the petition. A copy of the order of expungement shall be 166
provided to the petitioner and each entity possessing 167
records subject to the order, a nd, upon receipt of the 168
order, each entity shall close any record in its possession 169
relating to any crime listed in the petition, in the manner 170
established by section 610.120. The records and files 171
maintained in any administrative or court proceeding in a 172
municipal, associate, or circuit court for any crime ordered 173
expunged under this section shall be confidential and only 174
available to the parties or by order of the court for good 175
cause shown. The central repository shall request the 176 SB 692 7
Federal Bureau of Investigation to expunge the records from 177
its files. 178
9. The order shall not limit any of the petitioner's 179
rights that were restricted as a collateral consequence of 180
such person's criminal record, and such rights shall be 181
restored upon issuance of the order of expungement. Except 182
as otherwise provided under this section, the effect of such 183
order shall be to fully restore the civil rights of such 184
person to the status he or she occupied prior to such 185
arrests, pleas, trials, or convictions as if such events had 186
never taken place. This includes fully restoring the civil 187
rights of a person to the right to vote, the right to hold 188
public office, and to serve as a juror. For purposes of 18 189
U.S.C. Section 921(a)(33)(B)(ii), an order of expun gement 190
granted pursuant to this section shall be considered a 191
complete removal of all effects of the expunged conviction. 192
Except as otherwise provided under this section, the effect 193
of such order shall be to restore such person to the status 194
he or she occupied prior to such arrests, pleas, trials, or 195
convictions as if such events had never taken place. No 196
person as to whom such order has been entered shall be held 197
thereafter under any provision of law to be guilty of 198
perjury or otherwise giving a false statement by reason of 199
his or her failure to recite or acknowledge such arrests, 200
pleas, trials, convictions, or expungement in response to an 201
inquiry made of him or her and no such inquiry shall be made 202
for information relating to an expungement , except the 203
petitioner shall disclose the expunged crime to any court 204
when asked or upon being charged with any subsequent crime. 205
The expunged crime may be considered a prior offense in 206
determining a sentence to be imposed for any subsequent 207
offense that the person is found guilty of committing. 208 SB 692 8
10. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 9 of 209
this section to the contrary, a person granted an 210
expungement shall disclose any expunged crime when the 211
disclosure of such information is necess ary to complete any 212
application for: 213
(1) A license, certificate, or permit issued by this 214
state to practice such individual's profession; 215
(2) Any license issued under chapter 313 or permit 216
issued under chapter 571; 217
(3) Paid or unpaid employment with an entity licensed 218
under chapter 313, any state -operated lottery, or any 219
emergency services provider, including any law enforcement 220
agency; 221
(4) Employment with any federally insured bank or 222
savings institution or credit union or an affiliate of such 223
institution or credit union for the purposes of compliance 224
with 12 U.S.C. Section 1829 and 12 U.S.C. Section 1785; 225
(5) Employment with any entity engaged in the business 226
of insurance or any insurer for the purpose of complying 227
with 18 U.S.C. Section 1033, 18 U.S.C. Section 1034, or 228
other similar law which requires an employer engaged in the 229
business of insurance to exclude applicants with certain 230
criminal convictions from employment; or 231
(6) Employment with any employer that is required to 232
exclude applicants with certain criminal convictions from 233
employment due to federal or state law, including 234
corresponding rules and regulations. 235
An employer shall notify an applicant of the requirements 236
under subdivisions (4) to (6) of this subsection. 237
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, an 238
expunged crime shall not be grounds for automatic 239 SB 692 9
disqualification of an applicant, but may be a factor for 240
denying employment, or a professional license, certificate, 241
or permit; except that, a crime expunged under the 242
provisions of this section may be grounds for automatic 243
disqualification if the application is for employment under 244
subdivisions (4) to (6) of this subsection. 245
11. A person who has been granted an exp ungement of 246
records pertaining to a crime may answer "no" to an 247
employer's inquiry into whether the person has ever been 248
arrested, charged, or convicted of a crime if, after the 249
granting of the expungement, the person has no public record 250
of a crime. The person, however, shall answer such an 251
inquiry affirmatively and disclose his or her criminal 252
convictions, including any offense expunged under this 253
section or similar law, if the employer is required to 254
exclude applicants with certain criminal con victions from 255
employment due to federal or state law, including 256
corresponding rules and regulations. 257
12. If the court determines that the petitioner has 258
not met the criteria for any of the crimes listed in the 259
petition for expungement or the peti tioner has knowingly 260
provided false information in the petition, the court shall 261
enter an order dismissing the petition. Any person whose 262
petition for expungement has been dismissed by the court for 263
failure to meet the criteria set forth in subsection 6 of 264
this section may not refile another petition until a year 265
has passed since the date of filing for the previous 266
petition. 267
13. A person may be granted more than one expungement 268
under this section provided that during his or her lifetime, 269
the total number of crimes for which orders of expungement 270 SB 692 10
are granted to the person shall not exceed the following 271
limits: 272
(1) Not more than three misdemeanor offenses or 273
ordinance violations that have an authorized term of 274
imprisonment; and 275
(2) Not more than two felony offenses. 276
A person may be granted expungement under this section for 277
any number of infractions. Nothing in this section shall be 278
construed to limit or impair in any way the subsequent use 279
of any record expunged under this s ection of any arrests or 280
findings of guilt by a law enforcement agency, criminal 281
justice agency, prosecuting attorney or circuit attorney, 282
including its use as a prior crime. 283
14. The court shall make available a form for pro se 284
petitioners seeking expungement, which shall include the 285
following statement: "I declare under penalty of perjury 286
that the statements made herein are true and correct to the 287
best of my knowledge, information, and belief.". 288
15. Nothing in this section shall be cons trued to 289
limit or restrict the availability of expungement to any 290
person under any other law. 291