[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2590 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2590
To establish a grant program for States for purposes of modernizing
criminal justice data infrastructure to facilitate automatic record
expungement and sealing, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 31, 2025
Mr. Van Hollen (for himself and Ms. Blunt Rochester) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and 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 facilitate automatic record
expungement and sealing, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Fresh Start Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Terms defined in omnibus crime control and safe streets
act of 1968.--Terms defined in section 901 of title I of the
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C.
10251) shall have the meanings given those terms in that
section.
(2) Other terms.--
(A) Automatic.--The term ``automatic'' means, with
regard to the expungement or sealing of a criminal
record, that the expungement or sealing occurs without
the State requiring any action from the eligible
individual.
(B) Covered expungement law.--The term ``covered
expungement law'' means a law of a State providing for
the automatic expungement or sealing, subject to such
requirements as the State may impose, of a criminal
record of an individual.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--The Attorney General may make not more than 1
grant under this Act to each eligible State.
(b) Amount.--A grant described in subsection (a) shall be in an
amount of not more than $5,000,000.
(c) Eligibility.--A State shall be eligible for a grant under this
Act if--
(1) the State has in effect a covered expungement law;
(2) the covered expungement 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 Attorney
General containing such information as the Attorney General may
require, including, at a minimum--
(A) information identifying whether a system
exists, as of the date of the application, for record
expungement or sealing in the State;
(B) a description of how infrastructure created
through grant funding will facilitate automatic record
expungement or sealing for individuals eligible for
record expungement or sealing; and
(C) an identification of the anticipated number of
individuals who would benefit from the implementation
of automatic record expungement or sealing
infrastructure.
SEC. 4. USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.
A State shall use a grant received under section 3 to implement a
covered expungement law in accordance with the following requirements:
(1) The State shall use not more than 10 percent of the
grant for research or planning for criminal record data
infrastructure improvements that will make criminal record
expungement or sealing automatic.
(2) The State shall use any remaining amounts to implement
criminal record data infrastructure improvements that will make
criminal record expungement or sealing automatic.
(3) The portion of the costs of implementing the law
provided by a grant under this section may not exceed 75
percent.
SEC. 5. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
(a) In General.--A State receiving a grant under section 3 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 automatic
expungement or sealing under the covered expungement law of the
State, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender.
(2) The number of individuals whose records have been
expunged or sealed annually since the enactment of the covered
expungement law of the State, disaggregated by race, ethnicity,
and gender.
(3) The number of individuals who have submitted an
application for expungement or sealing under the covered
expungement law of the State that is still pending,
disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender.
(b) Inaccessibility of Data for Reporting.--If a State is unable to
compile and report elements of the data on expungement and sealing
required to be reported under subsection (a) during any year of the
grant term, the State shall develop and report, not later than the last
day of that year, a comprehensive plan to obtain as much of the
unavailable data as possible.
(c) Publication.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment
of this Act, and each year thereafter, the Attorney General shall make
available to the public a report containing the data reported to the
Attorney General under this section.
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 for each of
fiscal years 2026 through 2030 to carry out this Act.
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