Yours truly shaking the hand and congratulating Rep. Darryl Owens (D, Louisville), the sponsor of HB40, moments after finishing my floor speech. HB40 passed 33-5, March 29, 2016.
After many years of effort, and several weeks of intense policy work and educating, the State Senate made history by hearing a felony expungement bill for the first time on the Senate floor, and passed it 33-5. House Bill 40 is now heading back to the House for concurrence, which we expect to happen immediately. Governor Bevin has already committed to signing HB40 when it lands on his desk. The offenses included in the bill, the voting record and the text of the bill itself are after linked below after the break.
If you've never watched a floor debate before I recommend taking some time to do that here. It was a good mix of supportive and opposing views, from both parties. There are valid arguments on both sides. This shows how the process can work even when there are the inevitable policy disagreements. Hit the video below and skim to the 1:57:30 mark to begin the "Orders of the Day" (the order of business during which we do our legislative voting). HB40 is up first.
The "Offense Data" document linked above gives the list of crimes included in the amended HB40. There are 61 Class D felonies on the list, out of the nearly 400 Class D's on the books, but we're capturing 70% of the Class D felon population. The numbers shown on the spreadsheet are the numbers of charges/cases (in cases where a conviction was obtained) over the last five years statewide.