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.