I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5651 
To establish a grant program for States for purposes of modernizing criminal 
justice data infrastructure to facilitate automated record sealing and 
expungement, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 20, 2021 
Mr. TRONE (for himself, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. CRENSHAW, Mrs. 
BICE of Oklahoma, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Ms. 
DEAN, Ms. BUSH, Ms. SCANLON, Mrs. SPARTZ, Mr. JEFFRIES, Mr. 
FITZPATRICK, Mr. MEIJER, Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS, Mr. KAHELE, Mr. 
MFUME, Ms. KUSTER, Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. COHEN, Ms. 
BASS, and Mr. KELLER) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To establish a grant program for States for purposes of 
modernizing criminal justice data infrastructure to facili-
tate automated record sealing and expungement, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fresh Start Act of 
2021’’. 
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SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may make 
not more than 1 grant under this Act to each eligible 
State. Each such grant shall be in an amount of not more 
than $5,000,000. 
(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A State shall be eligible if— 
(1) the State has in effect a covered 
expungement law; 
(2) the law of the State provides that 
expungement or sealing of a criminal record shall 
not be delayed by reason of a failure to pay a fee 
or fine; and 
(3) the State submits an application to the At-
torney General, containing such information as the 
Attorney General may require, including, at a min-
imum— 
(A) information identifying whether there 
is a system that, as of the date of the applica-
tion, exists for record expungement or record 
sealing in the State; 
(B) a description of how infrastructure 
created through grant funding will facilitate 
automatic expungement or record sealing fund-
ing for individuals eligible for record sealing or 
expungement; and 
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(C) an identification of the anticipated 
number of individuals that would benefit from 
the implementation of automated expungement 
or record sealing infrastructure. 
SEC. 3. USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS. 
A grant under section 2 shall be used to implement 
a covered expungement law in accordance with the fol-
lowing: 
(1) Not more than 10 percent of such grant 
shall be used for research or planning for criminal 
record data infrastructure improvements that will 
make criminal record expungement or sealing auto-
matic. 
(2) Any remaining amounts shall be used to im-
plement such improvements. 
(3) The portion of the costs of implementing 
such a law provided by a grant under this section 
may not exceed 75 percent. 
SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—A State receiving a grant under 
section 2 shall report to the Attorney General, each year 
of the grant term, pursuant to guidelines established by 
the Attorney General, information regarding the following: 
(1) The number of individuals eligible for auto-
matic expungement or sealing under the covered 
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expungement law of that State, disaggregated by 
race, ethnicity, and gender. 
(2) The number of individuals whose records 
have been expunged or sealed annually since the en-
actment of such law, disaggregated by race, eth-
nicity, and gender. 
(3) The number of individuals whose applica-
tion for expungement or sealing under such law are 
still pending, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and 
gender. 
(b) INACCESSIBILITY OF DATA FOR REPORTING.—In 
the event that elements of the data on expungement and 
sealing required to be reported under paragraph (1) are 
not able to be compiled and reported, the State shall de-
velop and report a comprehensive plan to obtain as much 
of the unavailable data as possible not later than the date 
that is one year after the first year of the grant being 
awarded. 
(c) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of this Act, and each year thereafter, 
the Attorney General shall publish, and make available to 
the public, a report containing the data reported to the 
Attorney General under this section. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
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(1) Terms used have the meanings given such 
terms in section 901 of the Omnibus Crime Control 
and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10251). 
(2) The term ‘‘automatic’’ means, with regard 
to the expungement or sealing of a criminal record, 
that such expungement or sealing occurs without 
any action required on the part of the State from an 
eligible individual. 
(3) The term ‘‘covered expungement law’’ 
means a law of a State providing for the automatic 
expungement or sealing, subject to such require-
ments as the State may impose, of a criminal record 
of an individual. 
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There are authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 
for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026 to carry out 
this Act. 
Æ 
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