This week Rep. McCombie’s House Bill 1634, which allows misdemeanor DUI convictions to be sealed after ten years under very specific circumstances, passed the House Judicial-Criminal Committee.
Under this legislation, an individual would be able to have their DUI sealed if they meet specific unique criteria.
“Many talk about criminal justice reform and often times our ideas of reform differ. The one thing I know all of us can agree on is that people make mistakes. HB1634 can give those one-time offenders a second chance. This bill could allow a judge to grant that chance by sealing their conviction after ten years of good decisions,” said Representative McCombie. “The goal of the bill is to give reformed petitioners another chance to build themselves up and be a productive part of our workforce and our communities without a lifetime of judgement.”
House Bill 1634 will allow the court to order the sealing of one misdemeanor record of DUI under certain conditions:
- The petitioner has not previously been convicted of or placed on supervision for DUI under the Illinois Vehicle Code;
- Ten or more years have passed since the termination of the petitioner’s sentence;
- During the commission of the violation, the petitioner did not proximately cause death or personal injury to any other person or damage the property of any other person and was not arrested for a violation of resisting or obstructing a peace officer;
- During the arrest or stop of the petitioner by a law enforcement officer for commission of the violation, the petitioner submitted to a test under the Illinois Vehicle Code to determine whether the petitioner was driving under the influence when requested by a law enforcement officer;
- The petitioner has no other misdemeanor or felony driving charge on his or her driving abstract;
- The judge examined the driving abstract of the petitioner petitioning to have his or her records sealed under this provision and made a finding entered on the record that the petitioner did not enter into a plea agreement on a lesser charge other than a DUI under the Illinois Vehicle Code or a similar provision of a local ordinance, and the facts did not support that the petitioner had previously committed a DUI under the Illinois Vehicle Code or a similar provision of a local ordinance.
HB 1634 passed committee by a vote of 13-1, and will now head to the full floor of the House of Representatives for a vote by all members.