Everyone,

I hope I am not embarrassing myself for just finding out about this bill that was passed by the legislature concerning automatic expungements, curious if anyone has thoughts?

I am concerned that if I hand out a deferred sentence and the person completes the deferred sentence, we must “automatically” expunge it. I checked with my court clerks and this appears new to everyone. This seems like a terribly large amount of work for the Municipal Court Clerks to “automatically” do yearly.

Was anyone made aware of this by chance before it passed?

Language from the Bill

“C. Beginning three (3) years after the effective date of this act and subject to the availability of funds, individuals with clean slate eligible cases shall be eligible to have their criminal records sealed automatically. For purposes of Section 18 et seq. of this title, "clean slate eligible case" shall mean a case where each charge within the case is pursuant to paragraph 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14 or 15 of subsection A of this section.
….
8. The person was charged with a misdemeanor, the charge was dismissed following the successful completion 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 has passed since the charge was dismissed;”

Link to the bill • http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2021-22%20ENR/hB/HB3316%20ENR.PDF

[A black text on a white background  Description automatically generated]

Daniel McClure, J.D., M.P.A.
www.localgovlawOK.comhttp://www.localgovlawOK.com
405-402-6821
700 S. 8th Street #181
McLoud, OK, 74851

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: Information contained in this e-mail message is attorney/client privileged and may contain privileged or confidential information intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible to deliver it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, immediately notify the sender by telephone at 405-402-6821  and return the original message to daniel@localgovlawOK.commailto:daniel@localgovlawOK.com.

Daniel,

It sounds less scary when you read it in context of the changes to Section 19:

B. The process for the automatic expungement of a clean slate eligible case as defined in subsection C of Section 18 of this title is as follows:

1. On a monthly basis, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation shall identify cases which are clean slate eligible by conducting a search of the criminal history repository records of the Bureau;
2. The Bureau shall, on a monthly basis, provide a list of clean slate eligible cases to the prosecuting agency and the arresting agency;
3. [more procedure for objecting etc. . .]

Essentially, the legislature put the burden on to OSBI to essentially do the work, not the individual agencies. They are the only ones that have the affirmative obligation to identify potentially eligible offenses and even then, the arresting and prosecuting agencies are given an opportunity to object (not really all that “automatic”). Since OSBI doesn’t want municipal courts to report the types of cases (traffic, certain misdemeanors) that we mostly see, those unreported cases will not technically be eligible for automatic expungement at all since they aren’t in the “history repository records of the Bureau.” I anticipate that we will see a large uptick in the number of expungements that have to be reviewed and processed if this becomes a thing, but the process will be in largely the same manner as expungements filed in district courts (now just on an administrative level).

That being said, the language in the 18 says that the eligibility is “subject to the availability of funds” and when I asked the OSBI counsel her thoughts on the change when it was introduced, she made it seem like it would be a huge undertaking to get their systems to that point. It might be years before they are able to do that.

Anthony Purinton | Assistant City Attorney | City of Norman
201 West Gray | P.O. Box 370, Norman, OK 73070
(405) 217-7700 | Fax (405) 366-5425
anthony.purinton@normanok.govmailto:anthony.purinton@normanok.gov

This e-mail is the property of the City Attorney's Office, City of Norman, Oklahoma, and the information contained in this e-mail is protected by the attorney-client and/or the attorney work product privilege.  It is intended only for the use of the individual named above and the privileges are not waived by virtue of this having been sent by e-mail.  If the person actually receiving this message or any other reader of the message is not the named recipient or the employee or agent responsible to deliver it to the named recipient, any use, dissemination, distribution, or copying of the communication is strictly prohibited.  If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify us and return the original message.

From: Daniel McClure via Oama oama@lists.imla.org
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2024 11:36 AM
To: oama (oama@lists.imla.org) oama@lists.imla.org
Subject: EXTERNAL EMAIL : [Oama] HB3316 - Auto Expungements

Everyone,

I hope I am not embarrassing myself for just finding out about this bill that was passed by the legislature concerning automatic expungements, curious if anyone has thoughts?

I am concerned that if I hand out a deferred sentence and the person completes the deferred sentence, we must “automatically” expunge it. I checked with my court clerks and this appears new to everyone. This seems like a terribly large amount of work for the Municipal Court Clerks to “automatically” do yearly.

Was anyone made aware of this by chance before it passed?

Language from the Bill

“C. Beginning three (3) years after the effective date of this act and subject to the availability of funds, individuals with clean slate eligible cases shall be eligible to have their criminal records sealed automatically. For purposes of Section 18 et seq. of this title, "clean slate eligible case" shall mean a case where each charge within the case is pursuant to paragraph 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14 or 15 of subsection A of this section.
….
8. The person was charged with a misdemeanor, the charge was dismissed following the successful completion 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 has passed since the charge was dismissed;”

Link to the bill --> http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2021-22%20ENR/hB/HB3316%20ENR.PDF

[A black text on a white background  Description automatically generated]

Daniel McClure, J.D., M.P.A.
www.localgovlawOK.comhttp://www.localgovlawOK.com
405-402-6821
700 S. 8th Street #181
McLoud, OK, 74851

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: Information contained in this e-mail message is attorney/client privileged and may contain privileged or confidential information intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible to deliver it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, immediately notify the sender by telephone at 405-402-6821  and return the original message to daniel@localgovlawOK.commailto:daniel@localgovlawOK.com.

Wonderful. Thanks gentleman for the guidance!

Sent from my T-Mobile 5G Device
Get Outlook for Androidhttps://aka.ms/AAb9ysg

From: Anthony Purinton Anthony.Purinton@NormanOK.gov
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2024 1:47:16 PM
To: Daniel McClure daniel@localgovlawok.com
Cc: oama (oama@lists.imla.org) oama@lists.imla.org
Subject: RE: HB3316 - Auto Expungements

Daniel,

It sounds less scary when you read it in context of the changes to Section 19:

B. The process for the automatic expungement of a clean slate eligible case as defined in subsection C of Section 18 of this title is as follows:

1. On a monthly basis, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation shall identify cases which are clean slate eligible by conducting a search of the criminal history repository records of the Bureau;

2. The Bureau shall, on a monthly basis, provide a list of clean slate eligible cases to the prosecuting agency and the arresting agency;

3. [more procedure for objecting etc. . .]

Essentially, the legislature put the burden on to OSBI to essentially do the work, not the individual agencies. They are the only ones that have the affirmative obligation to identify potentially eligible offenses and even then, the arresting and prosecuting agencies are given an opportunity to object (not really all that “automatic”). Since OSBI doesn’t want municipal courts to report the types of cases (traffic, certain misdemeanors) that we mostly see, those unreported cases will not technically be eligible for automatic expungement at all since they aren’t in the “history repository records of the Bureau.” I anticipate that we will see a large uptick in the number of expungements that have to be reviewed and processed if this becomes a thing, but the process will be in largely the same manner as expungements filed in district courts (now just on an administrative level).

That being said, the language in the 18 says that the eligibility is “subject to the availability of funds” and when I asked the OSBI counsel her thoughts on the change when it was introduced, she made it seem like it would be a huge undertaking to get their systems to that point. It might be years before they are able to do that.

Anthony Purinton | Assistant City Attorney | City of Norman

201 West Gray | P.O. Box 370, Norman, OK 73070

(405) 217-7700 | Fax (405) 366-5425

anthony.purinton@normanok.govmailto:anthony.purinton@normanok.gov

This e-mail is the property of the City Attorney's Office, City of Norman, Oklahoma, and the information contained in this e-mail is protected by the attorney-client and/or the attorney work product privilege.  It is intended only for the use of the individual named above and the privileges are not waived by virtue of this having been sent by e-mail.  If the person actually receiving this message or any other reader of the message is not the named recipient or the employee or agent responsible to deliver it to the named recipient, any use, dissemination, distribution, or copying of the communication is strictly prohibited.  If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify us and return the original message.

From: Daniel McClure via Oama oama@lists.imla.org
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2024 11:36 AM
To: oama (oama@lists.imla.org) oama@lists.imla.org
Subject: EXTERNAL EMAIL : [Oama] HB3316 - Auto Expungements

Everyone,

I hope I am not embarrassing myself for just finding out about this bill that was passed by the legislature concerning automatic expungements, curious if anyone has thoughts?

I am concerned that if I hand out a deferred sentence and the person completes the deferred sentence, we must “automatically” expunge it. I checked with my court clerks and this appears new to everyone. This seems like a terribly large amount of work for the Municipal Court Clerks to “automatically” do yearly.

Was anyone made aware of this by chance before it passed?

Language from the Bill

“C. Beginning three (3) years after the effective date of this act and subject to the availability of funds, individuals with clean slate eligible cases shall be eligible to have their criminal records sealed automatically. For purposes of Section 18 et seq. of this title, "clean slate eligible case" shall mean a case where each charge within the case is pursuant to paragraph 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14 or 15 of subsection A of this section.

….

8. The person was charged with a misdemeanor, the charge was dismissed following the successful completion 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 has passed since the charge was dismissed;”

Link to the bill --> http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2021-22%20ENR/hB/HB3316%20ENR.PDF

[A black text on a white background  Description automatically generated]

Daniel McClure, J.D., M.P.A.

www.localgovlawOK.comhttp://www.localgovlawOK.com

405-402-6821

700 S. 8th Street #181

McLoud, OK, 74851

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: Information contained in this e-mail message is attorney/client privileged and may contain privileged or confidential information intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible to deliver it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, immediately notify the sender by telephone at 405-402-6821  and return the original message to daniel@localgovlawOK.commailto:daniel@localgovlawOK.com.