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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
2nd Session of the 58th Legislature (2022)
HOUSE BILL 3316 By: Miller
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to expungements; amending 22 O.S.
2021, Sections 18 and 19, which relate to the
expungement of criminal arrest rec ords; providing for
the automatic sealing of records under certain
circumstances; defining term; providing process for
the automatic expungement of certain eligible cases;
providing for the filing of expungement petitions and
unsealing of records apart from the automatic
expungement process; and providing an effective date .
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 22 O.S. 2021, Section 18, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 18. A. Persons authorized to file a motion for
expungement, as provided herein, must be within one of the following
categories:
1. The person has been acquitted;
2. The conviction was rev ersed with instructions to dismiss by
an appellate court of compe tent jurisdiction, or an appellate court
of competent jurisdiction reversed the conviction and the
prosecuting agency subsequently dismissed the charge;
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3. The factual innocence of the perso n was established by the
use of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) evide nce subsequent to
conviction, including a person who has been released from prison at
the time innocence was established;
4. The person has received a full pardon by the Governor for
the crime for which the person was sentenced;
5. The person was arreste d and no charges of any type,
including charges for a n offense different than that for which the
person was originally arrested, are filed and the statute of
limitations has expired or the pr osecuting agency has declined to
file charges;
6. The person was under eighteen (18) years of age at the time
the offense was committed and the person has received a full pardon
for the offense;
7. The person was charged with one or more misdemeanor or
felony crimes, all charges have been dismissed, the person has nev er
been convicted of a felony, no misdemeanor or felo ny charges are
pending against the person and the statute of limitations for
refiling the charge or charges has expired or the prosecuting agency
confirms that the charge or charges will not be refiled; provided,
however, this category shall not apply to c harges that have been
dismissed following the completion of a deferred judgment or delayed
sentence;
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8. The person was charged with a mis demeanor, the charge was
dismissed following the successful compl etion of a deferred judgment
or delayed sentence, the person has never been convicted of a
felony, no misdemeanor or felony charges are pending against the
person and at least one (1) year ha s passed since the charge was
dismissed;
9. The person was charg ed with a nonviolent felony offense not
listed in Section 571 of Title 57 of the Oklahoma Statutes, the
charge was dismissed following the successful completion of a
deferred judgment or dela yed sentence, the person has never been
convicted of a felony, no misdemeanor or felony charges are pending
against the person and at least five (5) years have passed since the
charge was dismissed;
10. The person was convicted of a misdemeanor offense, t he
person was sentenced to a fine of less than Five Hundred One D ollars
($501.00) without a term of imprisonment or a suspended sentence,
the fine has been paid or satisfied by time served in lieu of the
fine, the person has not been convicted of a felony and no felony or
misdemeanor charges are pending against the pers on;
11. The person was convicted of a misdemeanor of fense, the
person was sentenced to a term of imprisonment, a suspended sentence
or a fine in an amount greater than Five Hundred Dollars ( $500.00),
the person has not been convicted of a felony, no felon y or
misdemeanor charges are pending against the pers on and at least five
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(5) years have passed since the end of the last misdemeanor
sentence;
12. The person was convicted of a nonviolent f elony offense not
listed in Section 571 of Title 57 of the Oklaho ma Statutes, the
person has not been convicted of any other felony, the person has
not been convicted of a separate misdemeanor in the last seven (7)
years, no felony or misdemeanor charges a re pending against the
person and at least five (5) years have pa ssed since the completion
of the sentence for the fel ony conviction;
13. The person was convicted of not more than two felony
offenses, none of which is a felony offense listed in Section 13 .1
of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes or any offense that would
require the person to register pursuant to the provi sions of the Sex
Offenders Registration Act, no felony or misdemeanor charges are
pending against the person, and at least ten (10) years have passed
since the completion of the sent ence for the felony c onviction;
14. The person has been charged or arrest ed or is the subject
of an arrest warrant for a crime that was committed by another
person who has appropriated or used the person's name or other
identification without the person's consent or authoriza tion; or
15. The person was convicted of a nonviolen t felony offense not
listed in Section 571 of Title 57 of the Oklahoma Statutes which was
subsequently reclassified as a misdemeanor under Oklahoma law, the
person is not currently serving a sentence for a crime in this state
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or another state, at least thi rty (30) days have passed since the
completion or commutation of the sentence for the crime that was
reclassified as a misdemeanor, any re stitution ordered by the court
to be paid by the person has been satisfied in full, and any
treatment program ordered by the court has been successfully
completed by the person, including any person who failed a treatment
program which resulted in an accel erated or revoked sentence that
has since been successfully compl eted by the person or the person
can show successful completion of a treatment program at a later
date. Persons seeking an expungement of records under the
provisions of this paragraph may u tilize the expungement forms
provided in Section 2 18a of this act title.
B. For purposes of Section 18 et seq. of th is title,
"expungement" shall mean the sealing of criminal records, as well as
any public civil record, involving actions brought by and a gainst
the State of Oklahoma arising from the same arrest, transaction or
occurrence.
C. Beginning two (2) years afte r the effective date of this act
and subject to the availability of funds, individuals with clean
slate eligible cases shall be eligible t o have their criminal
records sealed automatically. For purposes of Section 18 et seq. of
this title, "clean slate eligible case" shall mean a case wher e each
conviction within the case is pursuant to paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 5, 6,
7, 8, 10, 11, 14 and 15 of subsection A of this section.
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D. For purposes of seeking an expungement under t he provisions
of paragraph 10, 11, 12 o r 13 of subsection A of this section,
offenses arising out of the same transaction or occurrence shal l be
treated as one conviction and of fense.
D. E. Records expunged pursuan t to paragraphs 4, 8, 9, 10, 11,
12, 13, 14 and 15 of subsection A of this secti on shall be sealed to
the public but not to law enforcement agencies for law enforcement
purposes. Records expunged pursuant to paragraph s 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
and 13 of subsection A of this section shall be admissible i n any
subsequent criminal prosecution t o prove the existence of a prior
conviction or prior deferred judgment without the necessity of a
court order requesting the unsealing of the records. Records
expunged pursuant to paragraph 4, 6, 12 or 13 of subsecti on A of
this section may also include t he sealing of Pardon and Parole Board
records related to an application for a pardon. Such records s hall
be sealed to the public but not to the Pardon and Parole Board.
SECTION 2. AMENDATORY 22 O.S. 2021, Section 19, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 19. A. Any person qualified under Section 18 of this
title may petition the district court of the district in which the
arrest information pertaining to the person is located for the
sealing of all or any part of the record, e xcept basic
identification information.
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B. The process for the automatic expungement of a cle an slate
eligible case as defined in subsecti on C of Section 18 of this title
is as follows:
1. On a monthly basis, the Okl ahoma State Bureau of
Investigation shall identify cases which are clean slate eligible ;
2. The Bureau shall, on a monthly bas is, transmit a list of
clean slate eligible cases to the prosecuting agency and the
arresting agency;
3. The prosecuting agency, arresting agency, and the Bureau
may, no later than thirty-five (35) days from the day on which the
notice described in paragraph 2 of this subsection is transmitted,
object to an automatic expungement for any of the following reasons:
a. after reviewing the agency record, the agency believes
the case does not meet the definition of a clean slate
eligible case,
b. the individual has not paid court -ordered restitution
to the victim, or
c. the agency has a reasonable belief, grounded in
supporting facts, tha t an individual with a clean
slate eligible case is continuing to engage in
criminal activity within or outside the state ;
4. If an agency identified in paragraph 3 of this sub section
objects for a reason described in paragraph 3 of this subsection
within thirty-five (35) days of the day on which the notice
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described in paragraph 3 of this s ubsection is transmitted, the
record shall not be expunged;
5. If thirty-five (35) days pass from the day on which the
notice described in paragraph 3 of this subsection is sent without
an objection for a reason described in paragraph 3 of this
subsection, the Bureau shall seal the record and transmit a notice
to the court clerk and law enfor cement agencies to seal the record ;
and
6. The Bureau shall make rules to gove rn the process for
automatic expungemen t of records for a clean slate eligible case in
accordance with this subsection.
C. Nothing in this section preclu des an individual from filing
a petition for expungement of records that are eligible for
automatic expungement under subsection C of Section 18 of this title
if an automatic expungement has not occurred pursuant to subsection
B of this section.
D. An automatic expungement granted under subsection B of this
section does not preclude a person from requesti ng the unsealing of
records in accordance with subsection O of this section.
E. Upon the filing of a petition or entering of a court order
as prescribed in subsection A of this section, the court shall set a
date for a hearing and shall provide thirty (30 ) days of notice of
the hearing to the prosecuting agency, t he arresting agency, the
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and any other person or
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agency whom the court has re ason to believe may have relevant
information related to the sealing of such re cord.
C. F. Upon a finding that the ha rm to privacy of the per son in
interest or dangers of unwarranted adverse consequences outweigh the
public interest in retaining the recor ds, the court may order such
records, or any part thereof except basic identifi cation
information, to be sealed. If t he court finds that neit her sealing
of the records nor maintaining of the records unsealed by the agency
would serve the ends of justice, the court may enter an appropriate
order limiting access to such records.
Any order entered under this subsection shal l specify those
agencies to which such order shall apply. Any order entered
pursuant to this subsection may be a ppealed by the petitioner , the
prosecuting agency, the arresting agency, or the Oklahoma State
Bureau of Investigation to the Oklahoma Supreme Court in accordance
with the rules of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. In all such appeals,
the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is a ne cessary party and
must be given notice of the appellate proceedings.
D. G. Upon the entry of an order to seal the rec ords, or any
part thereof, or upon an automatic expungement described in
subsection B of this section, the subject official actions shall be
deemed never to have occurred, and the person in interest and all
criminal justice agencies may properly reply, upo n any inquiry in
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the matter, that no such action ever occurred and that no such
record exists with resp ect to such person.
E. H. Inspection of the records included in the order may
thereafter be permitted by the cour t only upon petition by the
person in interest who is the subject of such re cords, the Attorney
General, or by the prosecuting agency and only to those persons and
for such purposes named in such petition.
F. I. Employers, educational institutions, state and local
government agencies, official s, and employees shall not, in any
application or interview or otherwise, require an applicant to
disclose any information contained in se aled records. An applicant
need not, in answer to any question concerning arre st and criminal
records, provide inform ation that has been sealed, including any
reference to or information concerning such sealed information and
may state that no such action has ever occurred. Such an
application may not be denied solely because of th e refusal of the
applicant to disclose arrest and criminal records informati on that
has been sealed.
G. J. All arrest and criminal records information existing
prior to the effective date of this section, except basic
identification information, is also s ubject to sealing in accordance
with subsection C F of this section.
H. K. Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize
the physical destruction of any criminal just ice records.
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I. L. For the purposes of this sectio n, sealed materials which
are recorded in the same document as unse aled material may be
recorded in a separate document, and sealed, then obliterated in the
original document.
J. M. For the purposes of this section, district court index
reference of sealed material shall be destroye d, removed or
obliterated.
K. N. Any record ordered to be sealed pursuant t o this section,
if not unsealed within ten (10) years of the expungement order, may
be obliterated or destroyed at the end of the ten -year period.
L. O. Subsequent to records bein g sealed as provided herein,
the prosecuting agency, the arresting agency, t he Oklahoma State
Bureau of Investigation, or other interested person or agency may
petition the court for an order unsealing said records. Upon filing
of a petition the court sha ll set a date for hearing, which hearin g
may be closed at the discretion of the court, and shall provide
thirty (30) days of notice to all interested parties. If, upon
hearing, the court determines there has been a change of co nditions
or that there is a compelling reason to unseal the records , the
court may order all or a portio n of the records unsealed.
M. P. Nothing herein shall prohibit the introduction of
evidence regarding actions sealed pursuant to the provisions of this
section at any hearing or t rial for purposes of impeaching the
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credibility of a witness or as evidence of character testimony
pursuant to Section 2608 of Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes.
N. Q. If a person qualifies for an expungement under the
provisions of paragraph 3 of subsect ion A of Section 18 of this
title and said petition for expungement is grant ed by the court, the
court shall order the reimbursement of all filing fees and court
costs incurred by the petitioner as a result of filing the
expungement request.
SECTION 3. This act shall become eff ective November 1, 2022.
58-2-8556 GRS 01/19/22