Expungement reform clears Michigan House with bipartisan support

Lansing — The Michigan House approved Tuesday with wide-ranging support a bipartisan seven-bill package that would clear the criminal records of many Michigan ex-offenders.

The package of bills would remove barriers to automatic erasing of certain offenses from offenders' records and shorten the period an individual must wait before becoming eligible for expungement.

Each bill passed with bipartisan support in the House and will move on to the Republican-controlled Senate.

“We had a bipartisan package, we worked with all the stakeholders, we worked closely with law enforcement and prosecutors,” said Rep. Graham Filler, R-DeWitt, a lead sponsor of the package. “To see it finally come to fruition, you just can’t believe it.”

Michigan law currently allows people with certain convictions to petition for the erasing of one felony or two misdemeanors from their records after avoiding contact with the court system for at least five years.

The legislation approved Tuesday would shorten the waiting period to three years and allow an individual with not more than three felony convictions to apply to have all offenses — felonies or misdemeanors — set aside. The bill would limit an individual to two expungements in the case of assault crimes.

One of the most important elements of the package, Filler said, is the automatic expungement of certain offenses without an individual petitioning for as much.

“That takes the barrier away from actually getting an expungement,” Filler said, noting people might be unable to afford a lawyer for the process or are uncomfortable in the courtroom because of past experiences in the judicial system.

“When you take the package as a whole, we’re now a national leader on expungement reform,” Filler said.  

The legislation would allow an individual with a marijuana conviction that would otherwise be legal under current law to set that conviction aside. And the bills would make most low-level traffic offenses eligible for removal from records.

In certain situations, the bills also would treat multiple offenses arising from the same act as a single conviction.

Existing expungement restrictions on drunken driving offenses, first- through third-degree criminal sexual conduct, and any crimes punishable by life in prison will stay in place.

In Detroit alone, about 82,000 residents are eligible for expungement under the state's current laws. If the reform proposals become law, the city estimates 133,000 more would qualify, for a total of 214,000 residents, according to Detroit’s free expungement program Project Clean Slate.

The legislation allows the state of Michigan to prioritize justice for people who have served their time, paid back their debt and should be “able to reenter their communities as citizens just like us,” said Rep. Yousef Rahbi, D-Ann Arbor, a sponsor of one of the bills.

“This is about jobs,” he said. “This is about housing. But most importantly this is about justice.”

Some lawmakers opposed the package because it was too restrictive or too permissive.

Rep. Beau LaFave, R-Iron Mountain, argued the legislation should have expungement provisions for some drunken driving offenses; Rep. Mike Mueller, R-Linden, proposed an amendment that would require offenders to pay all restitution before being awarded automatic expungement. The amendment failed to get support.

Automatic expungement without some requirements, Mueller said, could affect “the ability of judges to use discretion and the voice of victims will go unheard.”

eleblanc@detroitnews.com