Florida Senate - 2022                              CS for SB 342
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Criminal Justice; and Senators Perry and
       Taddeo
       
       
       
       
       591-01004-22                                           2022342c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to juvenile diversion program
    3         expunction; amending s. 943.0582, F.S.; requiring the
    4         Department of Law Enforcement to expunge the
    5         nonjudicial arrest record of certain minors who
    6         successfully complete a diversion program for
    7         specified felony offenses, rather than only for
    8         misdemeanor offenses; amending s. 985.126, F.S.;
    9         authorizing a minor who successfully completes a
   10         diversion program and is granted an expunction for any
   11         offense, rather than only for a first-time misdemeanor
   12         offense, to lawfully deny or fail to acknowledge
   13         certain information; providing an effective date.
   14          
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16  
   17         Section 1. Subsection (1) and paragraph (b) of subsection
   18  (3) of section 943.0582, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   19         943.0582 Diversion program expunction.—
   20         (1) Notwithstanding any law dealing generally with the
   21  preservation and destruction of public records, the department
   22  shall adopt rules to provide for the expunction of a nonjudicial
   23  record of the arrest of a minor who has successfully completed a
   24  diversion program for a misdemeanor offense.
   25         (3) The department shall expunge the nonjudicial arrest
   26  record of a minor who has successfully completed a diversion
   27  program if that minor:
   28         (b) Submits to the department, with the application, an
   29  official written statement from the state attorney for the
   30  county in which the arrest occurred certifying that the minor he
   31  or she has successfully completed that county’s diversion
   32  program;, that the minor’s his or her participation in the
   33  program was based on an arrest for a misdemeanor offense or for
   34  a felony offense other than a forcible felony as defined in s.
   35  776.08;, and that the minor he or she has not otherwise been
   36  charged by the state attorney with, or found to have committed,
   37  any criminal offense or comparable ordinance violation.
   38         Section 2. Subsection (5) of section 985.126, Florida
   39  Statutes, is amended to read:
   40         985.126 Diversion programs; data collection; denial of
   41  participation or expunged record.—
   42         (5) A minor who successfully completes a diversion program
   43  and who has been granted an expunction under s. 943.0582 for a
   44  first-time misdemeanor offense may lawfully deny or fail to
   45  acknowledge his or her participation in the program and such an
   46  expunction of a nonjudicial arrest record under s. 943.0582,
   47  unless the inquiry is made by a criminal justice agency, as
   48  defined in s. 943.045, for a purpose described in s.
   49  943.0582(2)(b)1.
   50         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.