119-s2590

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2590 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 2590

 To establish a grant program for States for purposes of modernizing 
 criminal justice data infrastructure to facilitate automatic record 
 expungement and sealing, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 July 31, 2025

 Mr. Van Hollen (for himself and Ms. Blunt Rochester) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
 the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To establish a grant program for States for purposes of modernizing 
 criminal justice data infrastructure to facilitate automatic record 
 expungement and sealing, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Fresh Start Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

 In this Act:

    (1) Terms defined in omnibus crime control and safe streets 
 act of 1968.--Terms defined in 

section 901 of title I of the 
 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 
 10251) shall have the meanings given those terms in that 
 section.

    (2) Other terms.--
        (A) Automatic.--The term ``automatic'' means, with 
 regard to the expungement or sealing of a criminal 
 record, that the expungement or sealing occurs without 
 the State requiring any action from the eligible 
 individual.
        (B) Covered expungement law.--The term ``covered 
 expungement law'' means a law of a State providing for 
 the automatic expungement or sealing, subject to such 
 requirements as the State may impose, of a criminal 
 record of an individual.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The Attorney General may make not more than 1 
grant under this Act to each eligible State.

    (b) Amount.--A grant described in subsection

    (a) shall be in an 
amount of not more than $5,000,000.
            (c) Eligibility.--A State shall be eligible for a grant under this 
Act if--

    (1) the State has in effect a covered expungement law;

    (2) the covered expungement law of the State provides that 
 expungement or sealing of a criminal record shall not be 
 delayed by reason of a failure to pay a fee or fine; and

    (3) the State submits an application to the Attorney 
 General containing such information as the Attorney General may 
 require, including, at a minimum--
        (A) information identifying whether a system 
 exists, as of the date of the application, for record 
 expungement or sealing in the State;
        (B) a description of how infrastructure created 
 through grant funding will facilitate automatic record 
 expungement or sealing for individuals eligible for 
 record expungement or sealing; and
            (C) an identification of the anticipated number of 
 individuals who would benefit from the implementation 
 of automatic record expungement or sealing 
 infrastructure.

SEC. 4. USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.

 A State shall use a grant received under 

section 3 to implement a 
covered expungement law in accordance with the following requirements:

    (1) The State shall use not more than 10 percent of the 
 grant for research or planning for criminal record data 
 infrastructure improvements that will make criminal record 
 expungement or sealing automatic.

    (2) The State shall use any remaining amounts to implement 
 criminal record data infrastructure improvements that will make 
 criminal record expungement or sealing automatic.

    (3) The portion of the costs of implementing the law 
 provided by a grant under this section may not exceed 75 
 percent.

SEC. 5. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) In General.--A State receiving a grant under 

section 3 shall 
report to the Attorney General, each year of the grant term, pursuant 
to guidelines established by the Attorney General, information 
regarding the following:

    (1) The number of individuals eligible for automatic 
 expungement or sealing under the covered expungement law of the 
 State, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender.

    (2) The number of individuals whose records have been 
 expunged or sealed annually since the enactment of the covered 
 expungement law of the State, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, 
 and gender.

    (3) The number of individuals who have submitted an 
 application for expungement or sealing under the covered 
 expungement law of the State that is still pending, 
 disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender.

    (b) Inaccessibility of Data for Reporting.--If a State is unable to 
compile and report elements of the data on expungement and sealing 
required to be reported under subsection

    (a) during any year of the 
grant term, the State shall develop and report, not later than the last 
day of that year, a comprehensive plan to obtain as much of the 
unavailable data as possible.
            (c) Publication.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, and each year thereafter, the Attorney General shall make 
available to the public a report containing the data reported to the 
Attorney General under this section.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

 There are authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 for each of 
fiscal years 2026 through 2030 to carry out this Act.
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