This bill would amend Code Section 35-3-37 of the O.C.G.A. to revise the conditions under which a criminal record can be expunged. Under the present law, a person who has been indicted or accused and had the case dismissed because they had completed a drug treatment or a mental health program could have the record expunged. That section would be removed from the law, and those records could not be expunged.

It would change “felony charges” to “felony charge” and only allow petition to the superior court to restrict access for criminal history purposes if the charge were reduced to a misdemeanor that was not a lesser included offense of the felony charge. That petition would have to be filed within four years of the arrest. The court would have to grant an order to restrict the information in the criminal history unless the harm otherwise resulting to the individual would be clearly outweighed by the public interest in the criminal history being publically available. This criteria would be applied to all arrests before July 1, 2013, even though those individuals could have requested and obtained expunging of their records after paying a $50 fee.

          Under certain circumstances an individual would be able to request restricted access to criminal history record information, but if a prosecuting attorney should decline the request and a civil action is filed in superior court, the only way the prosecuting attorney’s decision could be overturned is if the arrest is not eligible for record restriction according to the proposed law.