| 1 | 1 | | |
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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE BILL 689 |
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| 3 | 3 | | By Camper |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | SENATE BILL 1177 |
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| 6 | 6 | | By Akbari |
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| 7 | 7 | | |
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| 8 | 8 | | |
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| 9 | 9 | | SB1177 |
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| 10 | 10 | | 002607 |
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| 11 | 11 | | - 1 - |
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| 12 | 12 | | |
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| 13 | 13 | | AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 40, |
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| 14 | 14 | | Chapter 32, relative to expungements. |
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| 15 | 15 | | |
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| 16 | 16 | | WHEREAS, counties with a larger population tend to face a criminal docket with many |
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| 17 | 17 | | defendants, and the related records quickly accumulate and can become overly burdensome; |
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| 18 | 18 | | and |
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| 19 | 19 | | WHEREAS, counties with a larger population tend to have a large staff in the court |
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| 20 | 20 | | clerk's office, which enables them to process expungements with less difficulty; now, therefore, |
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| 21 | 21 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENE RAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE: |
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| 22 | 22 | | SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 40-32-101(a)(1), is amended by |
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| 23 | 23 | | adding the following as a new subdivision: |
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| 24 | 24 | | (G) Notwithstanding this section to the contrary, in a county having a population |
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| 25 | 25 | | of three hundred sixty-six thousand two hundred (366,200) or more, according to the |
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| 26 | 26 | | 2020 federal census or any subsequent federal census, court clerks are authorized to |
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| 27 | 27 | | implement an automatic expungement processing program that initiates processing the |
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| 28 | 28 | | expungement of public records, without petition by the person, certification under |
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| 29 | 29 | | subsection (n), or order of the court, of any person entitled to an expungement without |
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| 30 | 30 | | cost pursuant to subdivisions (a)(3), (e)(1), or (e)(3). Upon notice from the court clerk of |
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| 31 | 31 | | an expungement under this subdivision (a)(1)(G), other agencies and officials shall treat |
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| 32 | 32 | | such notice the same as the receipt of an order of expungement from the court. The |
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| 33 | 33 | | court clerk shall maintain a confidential record of all cases expunged under this |
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| 34 | 34 | | subdivision (a)(1)(G), which is only accessible by the person whose records were |
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| 35 | 35 | | expunged, law enforcement agencies, courts, or other governmental agencies |
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| 36 | 36 | | |
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| 37 | 37 | | |
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| 38 | 38 | | - 2 - 002607 |
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| 39 | 39 | | |
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| 40 | 40 | | performing official functions. Court clerks are not responsible for the continued |
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| 41 | 41 | | maintenance of an expungement program under this subdivision (a)(1)(G) and are not |
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| 42 | 42 | | liable for any errors or omissions under the program. |
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| 43 | 43 | | SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it. |
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