Fresh Start Act of 2016
Latest action · Apr 1, 2016 Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedFeb 1, 2016
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Fresh Start Act of 2016
This bill amends the federal criminal code to allow an individual convicted of a nonviolent criminal offense to file a petition for expungement of the record of such conviction. It allows expungement if such individual: (1) has never been convicted of any criminal offense other than the nonviolent offenses committed in a single criminal episode that includes the offense for which expungement is sought; (2) has fulfilled all requirements of the sentence of the court, including payment of all fines, restitution, or assessments and completion of terms of imprisonment and probation; and (3) has remained free (if required by the court's sentence) from dependency on or abuse of alcohol or a controlled substance for at least one year.
The Department of Justice must maintain an unaltered nonpublic copy of expunged criminal records, to be disclosed for limited purposes to federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies.
The bill amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to increase by 5% grant funding under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program to states that implement expungement procedures substantially similar to the procedures enacted by this Act. It decreases such grant funding by 5% for states that fail to adopt expungement procedures.
Cosponsors 8
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Feb 1, 2016 to Sep 26, 2016, with 5 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-OR | Earl Blumenauer | Original | Feb 1, 2016 |
| D-DC | Eleanor Holmes Norton | Original | Feb 1, 2016 |
| D-WI | Gwen Moore | Original | Feb 1, 2016 |
| D-GA | Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr. | Original | Feb 1, 2016 |
| D-AZ | Raúl M. Grijalva | Original | Feb 1, 2016 |
| D-FL | Alcee L. Hastings | Feb 9, 2016 | |
| D-MD | Elijah E. Cummings | Feb 12, 2016 | |
| D-IN | André Carson | Sep 26, 2016 |
Actions 4
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Apr 1, 2016Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.
- Feb 1, 2016Introduced in House
- Feb 1, 2016Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
- Feb 1, 2016Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E86)
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Feb 1, 2016Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.