What the General Assembly is doing

2026 session: automatic expungement did not pass

Senate Bill 290, the Automatic Expungement Act, would have had the courts expunge eligible records on their own schedule instead of waiting for a petition. It did not pass. House Bill 30, which would have expanded expungement for charged-but-dismissed cases and clarified how persistent felony offender status interacts with expungement, was referred to House Judiciary in January and did not advance.

Both are likely to return in 2027. If you check your eligibility with us and opt in, we will email you if an automatic-expungement law passes.

2023: multiple felonies (HB 369)

Removed the one-felony-per-lifetime limit. Any number of eligible Class D felonies can now be expunged, and the $250 expungement fee can be paid in installments over at least eighteen months.

2020: automatic clearing of acquittals and dismissals (HB 327)

Acquittals and dismissals with prejudice after July 15, 2020 are expunged automatically after thirty days. Also shortened the wait for charges that never produced an indictment from twelve months to six.

2019: the catch-all (SB 57)

Expanded felony expungement from a fixed list of sixty-odd offenses to nearly every Class D felony, with a short list of exclusions and a rehabilitation finding. Cut the felony fee from $500 to $250 plus a $50 filing fee.

2016: the beginning (HB 40)

Kentucky's first felony expungement law, signed by Governor Bevin on April 12, 2016. Covered sixty-one listed Class D felonies, one per lifetime, after a five-year wait, for a $500 fee. We covered its passage day by day; that story is on the history page.