Attorney Mathew Higbee was the lead witness in support of Senator Roderick Wright’s bill to expand the benefits of California’s expungement law. The bill, SB 530, is expected to be approved by the committee.
Higbee explained to the committee that, despite California’s many innovative programs designed to help former offenders, California’s expungement law still leaves many former offenders set-up to fail.
“In many ways, California is very progressive and innovative when it comes to helping former offenders. We provide drug treatment, continuing education, job training and even tattoo removal. But California does not remove the one thing that many other states do, and that is the label of criminal. California’s law governing expungement and other post-conviction remedies are inadequate, as a result, all of those investments in rehabilitation and training are marginalized— leading to unnecessary unemployment, under-employment, and waste of human capital,” said Higbee.
The current version of SB 530 expands the eligibility for certificate of rehabilitation and codifies a regulation that prohibits employers from discriminating against people with an expunged conviction. Higbee says that the bill will likely be amended to provide bigger benefits to more people.
“I am expecting the bill to create a new legal remedy that will allow some offenders to have convictions removed from their Department of Justice report, commonly know as a Live Scan report,” said Higbee.
Mat:
Very happy for you because I can tell that you are doing what you love. You are someone who has passion for your endeavor, I respect that and I wish you the best in your efforts to achieve your goals.
Ron, CHC
Thanks really appreciate all the hard work
How long will it be before this bill is passed?
We are unable to predict how soon SB 530 will be passed, but we will continue to post any updates here or you can check out the website RecordClearing.org, which keeps track of changes to the expungement laws across the country.
It may seem redundunt behavior due to the present recidivism rate to try and help “so called criminals” return to society. However I have personally met those who who have had long standing possession cases follow them for years, even decades. It is time to let them back into society. The generated support for this bill is a step in the right direction. Thanks KC
You can check the current status of this bill by visiting this URL:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB530