HB 2131 -- Missouri Citizen Restoration Act

Co-Sponsors:  Akin, Backer

This bill makes changes to provisions relating to the
expungement of criminal records.  The bill creates the "Missouri
Citizen Restoration Act," which allows certain defendants who
have pled guilty to either one felony or 2 misdemeanors and who
meet the act's qualifications to petition the court to have the
criminal or juvenile records sealed.

Failure to seal records that meet the act's requirements is a
class B felony, and knowingly using the information contained in
sealed records for financial gain is a class D felony.  The
public will not have access to the sealed records, but the
records will remain open to law enforcement agencies.

The bill also adds 2 circumstances in which criminal records may
be expunged:  (1) if the arrest was based on false information,
the subject of the arrest has no suspended imposition of
sentence, and there are no pending criminal investigations
regarding the arrest; or (2) if no criminal charges have been
filed against the subject of the arrest within 10 years.