The House Judiciary Committee Tuesday amended and reported out House Bill 1419 (Delozier-R-Cumberland) which outlines a process for sealing the records of people who commit low level, non-violent misdemeanors.
“Millions of Pennsylvanians have criminal records and many of those people have only committed minor offenses, such as misdemeanors or arrests without a conviction. Even having a minor criminal record can be devastating and make it very difficult for those individuals to ever become productive members of our communities,” said Rep. Ron Marsico (R-Dauphin), Majority Chair of the Committee. “This legislation gives those individuals another chance.”
House Bill 1419 builds on Act 5 of 2016, which established a process by which a court, on petition, may grant an order limiting public access to certain criminal history records if the petitioner has been free from subsequent arrest, prosecution or conviction for a period of at least 10 years.
The bill would seal the records of those who have non-violent misdemeanor convictions after they have remained crime-free for at least 10 years. It would also seal all non-conviction records.
The legislation includes language to provide liability immunity to employers, as well as exemptions for certain industries where the proposed legislation would conflict with federal requirements. Juveniles are not included in this legislation.
The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.
