[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 30 (Thursday, February 15, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E193-E194]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  INTRODUCTION OF THE FRESH START ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 15, 2018

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, in the wake of the release of President 
Trump's outrageous budget that slashes funding for programs that help 
reduce crime and reduce recidivism, I rise in support of the Fresh 
Start Act, a bill I reintroduced earlier today that will bring positive 
reform to our criminal justice system.
  If enacted, the Fresh Start Act would allow certain individuals who 
have been convicted of nonviolent offenses, have paid their debt to 
society, and are now law-abiding members of the community to petition 
courts to have their nonviolent conviction expunged from their records.
  A criminal record, even for a minor, nonviolent offense, can pose as 
a barrier to employment, education and housing opportunities--the very 
things necessary to start one's life over.
  This is not only bad for rehabilitated offenders, it is bad for their 
families and for the communities in which they live.
  The Fresh Start Act would give nonviolent offenders a chance to start 
over again, a chance to become productive members of society.
  The bill allows offenders to apply for expungement to the court where 
they were sentenced and allows the United States Attorney for that 
District to submit recommendations to the court. Applicants who are 
denied could reapply once every two years. Once seven years have 
elapsed since an offender has completed their sentence, expungement 
would be automatically granted. However, sex offenders and those who 
commit crimes causing a loss of over $25,000 would not be eligible for 
automatic expungement.

[[Page E194]]

  Finally, the bill would also encourage states to pass their own 
expungement laws for state offenses. States that pass a substantially 
similar law would receive a 5 percent increase in their Byrne funding 
while those that do not would lose 5 percent of their Byrne funds.
  It is one thing to convict someone of a nonviolent crime. It is quite 
another to condemn him to a de facto life sentence for it.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

                          ____________________