Florida Senate - 2024                                    SB 1290
       
       
        
       By Senator Davis
       
       
       
       
       
       5-01670-24                                            20241290__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to court-ordered sealing of criminal
    3         history records; reenacting and amending s. 943.059,
    4         F.S.; revising eligibility criteria for criminal
    5         record sealing; providing for additional record
    6         sealings; providing an effective date.
    7          
    8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    9  
   10         Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 943.059, Florida
   11  Statutes, is amended, and paragraph (a) of subsection (2) and
   12  paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of that section are reenacted,
   13  to read:
   14         943.059 Court-ordered sealing of criminal history records.—
   15         (1) ELIGIBILITY.—A person is eligible to petition a court
   16  to seal a criminal history record when:
   17         (a) The criminal history record is not ineligible for
   18  court-ordered sealing under s. 943.0584.
   19         (b)The criminal history record for which the person seeks
   20  a court-ordered sealing was:
   21         1.A record for which the person has not been adjudicated
   22  guilty of, or adjudicated delinquent for committing, any of the
   23  acts stemming from the arrest or alleged criminal activity to
   24  which the petition to seal pertains; or
   25         2.A misdemeanor record for which the person was
   26  adjudicated guilty, if the misdemeanor was not a violent
   27  misdemeanor; a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, as
   28  defined in s. 741.28; or a misdemeanor under s. 741.29, s.
   29  741.31, s. 784.046, s. 784.047, s. 784.048, s. 784.0487, or s.
   30  784.049.
   31         (c)(b) The person has never, before the date the
   32  application for a certificate of eligibility is filed, been
   33  adjudicated guilty in this state of a criminal offense, or been
   34  adjudicated delinquent in this state for committing any offense
   35  listed in s. 943.0584 felony or any of the following misdemeanor
   36  offenses, unless the record of such adjudication of delinquency
   37  has been expunged pursuant to s. 943.0515:
   38         1. Assault, as defined in s. 784.011;
   39         2. Battery, as defined in s. 784.03;
   40         3. Assault on a law enforcement officer, a firefighter, or
   41  other specified officers, as defined in s. 784.07(2)(a);
   42         4. Carrying a concealed weapon, as defined in s. 790.01(2);
   43         5. Open carrying of a weapon, as defined in s. 790.053;
   44         6. Unlawful possession or discharge of a weapon or firearm
   45  at a school-sponsored event or on school property, as defined in
   46  s. 790.115;
   47         7. Unlawful use of destructive devices or bombs, as defined
   48  in s. 790.1615(1);
   49         8. Unlawful possession of a firearm by a minor, as defined
   50  in s. 790.22(5);
   51         9. Exposure of sexual organs, as defined in s. 800.03;
   52         10. Arson, as defined in s. 806.031(1);
   53         11. Petit theft, as defined in s. 812.014(3);
   54         12. Neglect of a child, as defined in s. 827.03(1)(e); or
   55         13. Cruelty to animals, as defined in s. 828.12(1).
   56         (c)The person has not been adjudicated guilty of, or
   57  adjudicated delinquent for committing, any of the acts stemming
   58  from the arrest or alleged criminal activity to which the
   59  petition to seal pertains.
   60         (d) The person is no longer serving the sentence or under
   61  court supervision applicable to the disposition of arrest or
   62  alleged criminal activity to which the petition to seal
   63  pertains.
   64         (e) The person has not never secured more than two a prior
   65  sealings or expunctions sealing or expunction of a criminal
   66  history record under this section, s. 943.0585, former s.
   67  893.14, former s. 901.33, or former s. 943.058. In addition, if
   68  the criminal history record is one for which the person was
   69  adjudicated guilty, the person cannot have previously secured a
   70  sealing of a criminal history record for which the person was
   71  adjudicated guilty.
   72         (2) CERTIFICATE OF ELIGIBILITY.—Before petitioning the
   73  court to seal a criminal history record, a person seeking to
   74  seal a criminal history record must apply to the department for
   75  a certificate of eligibility for sealing. The department shall
   76  adopt rules relating to the application for and issuance of
   77  certificates of eligibility for sealing.
   78         (a) The department shall issue a certificate of eligibility
   79  for sealing to a person who is the subject of a criminal history
   80  record if that person:
   81         1. Satisfies the eligibility criteria in paragraphs (1)(a)
   82  (e) and is not ineligible for court-ordered sealing under s.
   83  943.0584.
   84         2. Has submitted to the department a certified copy of the
   85  disposition of charge to which the petition pertains.
   86         3. Remits a $75 processing fee to the department for
   87  placement in the Department of Law Enforcement Operating Trust
   88  Fund, unless the executive director waives such fee.
   89         (3) PETITION.—Each petition to a court to seal a criminal
   90  history record is complete only when accompanied by:
   91         (b) The petitioner’s sworn statement that the petitioner:
   92         1. Satisfies the eligibility requirements for sealing in
   93  subsection (1).
   94         2. Is eligible for sealing to the best of his or her
   95  knowledge and does not have any other petition to seal or
   96  expunge a criminal history record pending before any court.
   97  
   98  Any person who knowingly provides false information on such
   99  sworn statement to the court commits a felony of the third
  100  degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s.
  101  775.084.
  102         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.