This is it! Not only did it pass the Senate, Governor Bevin in his speech last night said that he was proud of the legislation and will sign it as soon as its on his desk. The House still has to concur with the amendments, or the bill could end up in a conference committee. The likelihood of something very close to HB40, as modified by Committee Substitute 1 is good.
One touch of bad news, is that Senator Neal’s amendment to change the court costs from $500 to $250 failed. This could still be lowered by a conference committee if thats where the bill ends up.
A few other takeaways from the bill the Senate passed:
- It allows for the expungement of multiple felonies if the convictions were all part of the same event. Of course, they still have to be one of the 61 felonies covered by the bill.
- The following felonies were added from the Stivers list covered previously:
- Cultivation of Marijuana
- Tampering with Physical Evidence
- Criminal Mischief 2nd Degree and
- Burglary 3rd Degree
- Prosecutors have 60 days to respond to the petition for expungement or it gets granted automatically. Prosecutors can apply for a 60 day extension to make the time limit 120 days.
- While the fee is $500, $450 will be refunded if the expungement is not granted.
All in all, very exciting news. Stay tuned to this blog for more analysis, news about the final bill, and an exciting announcement about an incredibly easy and efficient way for you or a loved one to take advantage of this new law.