Action Alert
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE DECIDING FATE OF EXPUNGEMENT BILL
The Massachusetts Judiciary committee is deciding the fate of the expungement bill. Reach out to your state representative and state senator asking them to support expanding expungement by co-sponsoring the bill:
Action 1: Testify at the Public Hearing
A public hearing will be held by the Judiciary Committee to receive feedback from the supporters and opponents of the bill. To learn stay informed about the hearing, please join the campaign. You may also join our email list or follow us on social media (see bottom of the page for links).
Action 2: Email your state representative and state senator to support expungement
Step 1: Find Your State Representative and State Senator here.
Step 2: Find out if your Representative or Senator is among the supporters of this bill here. If your representative or senator is among the supporters, please make sure to remind them they co-sponsored expanding expungement in the past.
Step 3: Sample email script (please personalize in your own voice)
To: State Representative (firstname.lastname@mahouse.gov) and State Senator (firstname.lastname@masenate.gov)
Subject: Co-Sponsor Expungement in H.1451/S.936
As your constituent, I feel very strongly that young people’s past troubles should not hold them back in their adulthood. I ask that you co-sponsor the Expungement bill (H.1451/S.936).
While Massachusetts’ expungement law is a step in the right direction, we still need to expand expungement eligibility to ensure young people have opportunities to advance and are not held back by records that serve no public safety purpose. H.1451/S.936 would extend eligibility for expungement to young people who have not offended in for at least three to seven years and have no offense on their record after they turn 21. The bill also limits the lifetime ban on expungement to offenses resulting in serious bodily injury as well as sex-based offenses that are currently also ineligible for sealing.
[Personalize your letter by adding a paragraph on why this is important to you:
Are you being held back by an old record and can’t expunge it?
Is your record as a youth preventing you from getting a firearms license or working in law enforcement?
Are you an employer or business owner and unable to hire the staff you need because of these records?
Can you speak to how youth of color are over-criminalized and these records become lifetime barriers without expungement?]
People deserve a second chance, especially those who have paid their debt and stayed out of trouble or those who have not been convicted of a crime but are still haunted by these records. It is especially important to increase eligibility to expungement as a racial justice solution to the racial and ethnic disparities in our criminal justice system.
A fact sheet on this bill can be found here.
Sincerely,
(your name, and home address)
Action 3: Call your state representative and state senator to support expungement
Step 1: Find Your State Representative and State Senator here.
Step 2: Find out if your Representative or Senator is among the supporters of this bill here. If your representative or senator is among the supporters, please make sure to remind them they co-sponsored expanding expungement in the past.
Step 3: Ask to speak to a legislative aide. Sample phone script. Make sure to include the bill number (H.1451/S.936) and explain why you feel strongly about expanding expungement eligibility.
Hi my name is .............................. and I am a constituent of the Representative (or Senator).
I am calling to ask that the Representative (or Senator) co-sponsor the bill expanding expungement that is being considered by the Judiciary Committee. The expungement provisions in H.1451/S.936 would create reasonable opportunities for young people to move on beyond their past transgressions by expanding eligibility for the expungement of certain court records created before individuals turned 21, by allowing expungement as long as they have not re-offended in the past 3-7 years. The bill also limits the lifetime ban on expungement to offenses resulting in serious bodily injury as well as sex-based offenses that are currently also ineligible for sealing.