Having gone for at least a decade with a felony stigma attached to almost everything they do, Kentuckians are ready to get their cases expunged right now. And I don’t blame them one bit. The opportunities that people will have after getting their felony, or dismissed case, or series of misdemeanors expunged have been detailed in depth on this blog. The sooner we start treating people like human beings, instead of some mistake they made, the better.

Earlier this week, I wrote a post that explained that the effective date for the new law will be July 15th, 2016. I talked to an attorney at the Administrative Office of the Courts today, and he confirmed that date is accurate. Further, I was able to learn that while this is the effective date of the legislation no one will be able to apply for an expungement on this day.

Why?

Well, Kentucky Revised Statute 431.079 requires that everyone that petitions for an expungement has to have a records check performed by the Kentucky State Police prior to petitioning for an expungement. Historically, this process has not taken very long–about a week. But depending upon the volume of requests and KSP’s response to those requests, the process could take longer. At this point in time, everyone I have spoken to at AOC and KSP has been very sympathetic and understanding, and I have every reason to believe that they will do everything that they can to expedite the certification process. All the same, no one will be able to apply for an expungement on July 15th under the new law, because no one will have a certificate of eligibility from KSP.

While I had this conversation with the attorney from AOC I also learned that it may be some time before we see the finalized version of the felony expungement form. In particular, it is looking more and more likely that the form will not be released until late June, maybe early July. Ultimately this won’t slow down any Clark Law clients from getting expungements, because my software will automatically generate the court required forms once they are available, eliminating data entry time. And even if the forms aren’t released in time, there is no requirement that you have to use the form. Clark Law can generate custom forms if need be to make sure everyone that eligible can have their case expunged as soon as possible.

All in all, it was disappointing, but expected to hear that Kentuckians would have to wait just a little longer to get their record cleared. All the same, it would be smart to start the process today to have everything ready to go on July 15th.

Interesting segment from Planet Money last week on a study that looked at how ex-felons performed in the Army. For some time during the height of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the Army issued waivers for convicted felons to serve. They are no longer issuing those waivers, but not because of any problems with the program, just a lowered demand for troops. A researcher looked at the service files for about 5,000 soldiers with felony records. The results:

1. Soldiers with felonies on their record were no more likely to get kicked out of the Army than those without; and
2. Those with felony records were in fact more likely to get promoted, and to get promoted faster.

While this is just one study, and civilian employment is different than serving in the Army, it goes to show that refusing to hire felons is short-sighted. A hiring program that looks at the totality of a person’s life, rather than one factor is always going to create better results. Of course, many employers are interested in hiring felons, but are scared to because of potential liability issues. With new tools in Kentucky, like House Bill 40, we will be able to get past some of these challenges and get more people back to work and in better jobs.