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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Tim Solobay |
  
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Governor signs Solobay's expungement bill
New law will streamline process to clear minor infractions from a person's record
HARRISBURG, Dec. 1 – Gov. Edward G. Rendell has signed state Rep. Tim Solobay's legislation (H.B. 1543) allowing people with summary convictions who remain arrest-free for five years to have their records expunged.
"We are talking about minor violations that can have a huge impact on a person's ability to get a job or advance his or her career," said Solobay, D-Washington. "Many employers shy away from hiring people with a criminal record, even if it's a minor offense committed early in life. This new law will give those who have had a minor lapse in judgment when they were younger an opportunity to wipe the slate clean and have a fresh start."
Solobay noted that under the current system, it can take up to four years to have a minor infraction removed from a person's record.
Under the new law, instead of having to bring a case to the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons as is the current practice, a person with a summary offense will be able to petition the local court to have the record expunged, provided he or she has been free of arrest or prosecution for at least five years since fulfilling his or her sentence. Expungement will not be automatic; the court will have the discretion of whether or not to grant it. Expungement could not be granted to a person convicted of indecent exposure where the victim was under the age of 18.
Summary offenses include minor traffic violations such as running a red light, failure to properly display the American flag, harassment, unauthorized use or opening of a fire hydrant, simple trespassing, retail or library theft for first-time offenders when the value of the merchandise is under $150, public drunkenness, encouraging a minor to commit truancy, selling tobacco products to minors, purchasing or attempting to purchase tobacco products as a minor, misrepresentation of age to purchase alcoholic beverages (first offense), underage drinking, scattering rubbish (first offense), posting advertisements on someone else’s property, retaining overdue library property and taking shopping or laundry carts off of a retail establishment’s property.
The new law will take effect on Jan. 26.
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