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State legislators voted in favor of a bill that creates new expunction opportunities and mandatory expungements for eligible records.

About The Bill

Delaware’s House Bill 447 (HB447) was written to expand the number of scenarios in which residents may have lower-level criminal records expunged. It also explains that certain records should be eligible for automatic expunction. The authors of this bill also developed a plan to accommodate an anticipated surge in expunction requests.

HB447 says:
The number of expungements is expected to greatly increase, so the Superior Court of Delaware will have a variety of case management oversight and records management functions. When a mandatory expungement notice is received from the State Bureau of Identification (SBI), the Court will be required to retrieve the file, relocate the file to a secured segregated area, complete necessary logs and records and provide notice that the file has been expunged.

Governor John Carney signed the bill into law. It went into effect on the same day, August 30, 2022.

Expectations

The court believes that more than 500,000 non-dispositive charges will be affected by this Act. They further noted that the total number of cases that will be eligible for mandatory expungement is indeterminable.

Senator Darius Brown supported the bill and suggested that 290,000 residents are currently eligible to have criminal records expunged. He commented: “The long-term benefit is employment, the long-term benefit is stable affordable housing, the long-term benefit is education, the long-term benefit is removing these barriers that have kept people for far too long in poverty.”

Learn more about the bill.

What Employers Should Know

Employers in Delaware should be aware that the passing of HB447 means many individuals will have criminal records expunged. When that happens, those records are no longer publicly available. Hiring manager may not consider them while making employment decisions.

A great way for organizations to avoid inadvertently reviewing records that have been sealed is to work with an accredited Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA). CRAs take reasonable steps to ensure they only provide data that is current, accurate and reportable. Employers can use these reports to help make informed decisions, maintain safe workplaces and conduct due diligence.

If You Need Background Checks

If your organization needs background checks for applicants, volunteers, contractors or employees, please contact us. We are an accredited CRA and every member of our team earns their FCRA certification. We’re prepared to help you customize background screening packages for any type of position based on your specific needs, industry requirements and applicable laws.

The team at Backgrounds Online is friendly, professional and available to assist you Monday through Friday from 5am to 6pm PT.