I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1529 

To permit expungement of records of certain nonviolent criminal offenses. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 16, 2009 

Mr. RANGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To permit expungement of records of certain nonviolent 

criminal offenses. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Second Chance for Ex5 Offenders Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXPUNGEMENT OF CRIMINAL RECORDS FOR CER7 TAIN NONVIOLENT OFFENDERS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 229 of title 18, United 

9 States Code, is amended by inserting after subchapter C 

10 the following new subchapter: 


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1 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER D—EXPUNGEMENT 

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘3631. Expungement of certain criminal records in limited circumstances. 

‘‘3632. Requirements for expungement. 

‘‘3633. Procedure for expungement. 

‘‘3634. Effect of expungement. 

‘‘3635. Reversal of expunged records. 

‘‘3636. Unsealing of records. 

2 ‘‘§ 3631. Expungement of certain criminal records in 

3 limited circumstances 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any individual convicted of an 

5 nonviolent offense who fulfills the requirements of section 

6 3632 may file a petition under this subchapter to expunge 

7 the record of such conviction. 

8 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION OF NONVIOLENT OFFENSE.—In 

9 this subchapter, the term ‘nonviolent offense’ means a 

10 misdemeanor or felony offense against the United States 

11 that does not have as an element of the offense the use 

12 of a weapon or violence and which did not actually involve 

13 violence in its commission. 

14 ‘‘§ 3632. Requirements for expungement 

15 ‘‘No individual shall be eligible for expungement 

16 under this subchapter unless, before filing a petition under 

17 this subchapter, such individual— 

18 ‘‘(1) has never been convicted of a violent of19 fense (including an offense under State law that 

20 would be a violent offense if it were Federal) and 

21 has never been convicted of a nonviolent offense 

22 other than the one for which expungement is sought; 


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1 ‘‘(2) has fulfilled all requirements of the sen2 tence of the court in which conviction was obtained, 

3 including completion of any term of imprisonment or 

4 period of probation, meeting all conditions of a su5 pervised release, and paying all fines; 

6 ‘‘(3) has remained free from dependency on or 

7 abuse of alcohol or a controlled substance a min8 imum of 1 year and has been rehabilitated, to the 

9 satisfaction of the court referred to in section 

10 3633(b), if so required by the terms of a supervised 

11 release; 

12 ‘‘(4) has obtained a high school diploma or 

13 completed a high school equivalency program; and 

14 ‘‘(5) has completed at least one year of commu15 nity service, as determined by the court referred to 

16 in section 3633(b). 

17 ‘‘§ 3633. Procedure for expungement 

18 ‘‘(a) PETITION.—An individual may file a petition for 

19 expungement in the court in which the conviction was ob20 tained. A copy of the petition shall be served by the court 

21 upon the United States Attorney for the district in which 

22 the conviction sought to be expunged was obtained. Not 

23 later than 60 days after receipt of such petition, the 

24 United States Attorney may submit written recommendaVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:16 Mar 17, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1529.IH H1529

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1 tions to the court and notify the petitioner of that rec2 ommendation. 

3 ‘‘(b) COURT-ORDERED EXPUNGEMENT.—The court, 

4 after consideration of evidence submitted by the petitioner 

5 in support of the petition and any evidence submitted by 

6 the Government in support of objections it may have to 

7 granting the petition, shall rule on the petition. In making 

8 that ruling the court, after determining whether the peti9 tioner meets the eligibility requirements of this sub10 chapter, shall weigh the interests of the petitioner against 

11 the best interests of justice and public safety. 

12 ‘‘§ 3634. Effect of expungement 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An order granting expungement 

14 under this subchapter shall restore the individual con15 cerned, in the contemplation of the law, to the status such 

16 individual occupied before the arrest or institution of 

17 criminal proceedings for the crime that was the subject 

18 of the expungement. 

19 ‘‘(b) NO DISQUALIFICATION; STATEMENTS.—After 

20 an order granting expungement of any individual’s crimi21 nal records under this subchapter, such individual shall 

22 not be required to divulge information pertaining to the 

23 expunged conviction and the fact that such individual has 

24 been convicted of the criminal offense concerned shall 

25 not— 


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1 ‘‘(1) operate as a disqualification of such indi2 vidual to pursue or engage in any lawful activity, oc3 cupation, profession, and 

4 ‘‘(2) held under any provision of law guilty of 

5 perjury, false answering, or making a false state6 ment by reason of his failure to recite or acknowl7 edge such arrest or institution of criminal pro8 ceedings, or results thereof, in response to an in9 quiry made of him for any purpose. 

10 ‘‘(c) RECORDS EXPUNGED OR SEALED.—Upon order 

11 of expungement, all official law enforcement and court 

12 records, including all references to such person’s arrest for 

13 the offense, the institution of criminal proceedings against 

14 him, and the results thereof, except publicly available 

15 court opinions or briefs on appeal, shall be expunged (in 

16 the case of nontangible records) or gathered together and 

17 sealed (in the case of tangible records). 

18 ‘‘(d) RECORD OF DISPOSITION TO BE RETAINED.— 

19 A nonpublic record of a disposition or conviction that is 

20 the subject of an expungement order shall be retained only 

21 by the Department of Justice solely for the purpose of use 

22 by the courts in any subsequent adjudication. 

23 ‘‘§ 3635. Disclosure of expunged records 

24 ‘‘(a) LAW ENFORCEMENT PURPOSES.—The Depart25 ment of Justice may maintain a nonpublic manual or comVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:16 Mar 17, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1529.IH H1529

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1 puterized index of expunged records containing only the 

2 name of, and alphanumeric identifiers that relate to, the 

3 persons who are the subject of such expunged records, the 

4 word ‘expunged’, and the name of the person, agency, of5 fice, or department that has custody of the expunged 

6 records, and shall not name the offense committed. The 

7 index shall be made available only to Federal and State 

8 law enforcement personnel who have custody of such ex9 punged records and only for the purposes set forth in sub10 section (b) of this section. 

11 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE.—Such records shall 

12 be made available to the person accused or to such per13 son’s designated agent and shall be made available to— 

14 ‘‘(1) any prosecutor, law enforcement agency, 

15 or court which has responsibility for criminally in16 vestigating, prosecuting, or adjudicating such indi17 vidual; 

18 ‘‘(2) any State or local office or agency with re19 sponsibility for the issuance of licenses to possess 

20 guns where the accused has made application for 

21 such license; or 

22 ‘‘(3) any prospective city, State, or Federal em23 ployer or agency, involved in investigating and/or 

24 prosecuting under criminal or civil statutes including 

25 employers of police or peace officers and in relation 


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1 to an application for employment as an employee of 

2 a city, State, or Federal employer or agency involved 

3 in investigating or prosecuting under criminal or 

4 civil statutes including as a police officer or peace 

5 officer, and every person who is an applicant for the 

6 position of police officer, peace officer, or any other 

7 prospective city, State, or Federal employer or agen8 cy, involved in investigating or prosecuting under 

9 criminal or civil statutes shall be furnished with a 

10 copy of all records obtained under this paragraph 

11 and afforded an opportunity to make an explanation 

12 thereto. 

13 ‘‘(c) PUNISHMENT FOR IMPROPER DISCLOSURE.— 

14 Any person who knowingly disseminates information relat15 ing to an expunged conviction other than the offender 

16 shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 

17 one year, or both. 

18 ‘‘§ 3636. Reversal of expunged records 

19 ‘‘The records expunged under this subchapter shall 

20 be restored by operation of law as public records and may 

21 be used in all court proceedings if the individual whose 

22 conviction was expunged is subsequently convicted of any 

23 Federal or State offense.’’. 

24 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sub25 chapters at the beginning of chapter 229 of title 18, 


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1 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

2 following item: 

‘‘D. Expungement ............................................................................... 3631’’. 

3 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 this Act shall apply to individuals convicted of an offense 

5 before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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