Bill > LD1916

Introduced Session

This bill is reported out by the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary to implement statutory changes recommended by the Criminal Records Review Committee. The Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary has not taken a position on the substance of this bill. By reporting this bill out, the committee is not suggesting and does not intend to suggest that it agrees or disagrees with any aspect of this bill; instead, the committee is reporting the bill out for the sole purpose of having a bill printed that can be referred to the committee for an appropriate public hearing and subsequent processing in the normal course. The committee is taking this action to ensure clarity and transparency in the legislative review of the proposals contained in the bill. The bill implements a recommendation of the Criminal Records Review Committee. The bill creates a process to automatically seal or make confidential criminal history record information related to convictions for marijuana possession and cultivation-related crimes committed on or after January 1, 2001 and prior to January 30, 2017 for engaging in conduct that is no longer illegal under the State's adult use cannabis laws. The process requires the Department of Public Safety, Bureau of State Police, State Bureau of Identification to review monthly the criminal history record information obtained in its files to determine if the underlying convictions for certain criminal history record information qualify for automatic sealing. If a conviction qualifies for the sealing of information, the bureau must transfer that information to the Administrative Office of the Courts, which is required to do the same with its files for the corresponding underlying convictions. Once the Administrative Office of the Courts has compiled all of the relevant information, the bill requires the Administrative Office of the Courts to submit that information to the Superior Court or District Court having jurisdiction over the underlying criminal proceeding that resulted in the conviction. That court is required to determine whether the underlying criminal conviction qualifies to have the criminal history record information related to the conviction sealed. If it does qualify, the court is required to send notice to the bureau to make that criminal history record information confidential. If it does not qualify, the court is required to send the order denying the sealing of information to the bureau to be filed with the criminal history record information for that underlying conviction. The bill provides that a person aggrieved by a finding that the person's conviction does not qualify for automatic sealing does not have a right to appeal, but the Supreme Judicial Court may make rules for the manner for taking such an appeal. Regardless of a finding that a person's conviction does not qualify for automatic sealing, the person is still permitted to file a motion to seal the criminal history record information for that conviction. The State may appeal a decision granting automatic sealing of an eligible criminal conviction as a matter of right.

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Voted: Divided Report (on 03/02/2026)

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