Pennsylvania House Bill HB1369

Pennsylvania 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 5/1/25
• Refer: 5/1/25

Caption

In child protective services, further providing for disposition and expunction of unfounded reports and general protective services reports and for disposition of founded and indicated reports, repealing provisions relating to expunction of information of perpetrator who was under 18 years of age when child abuse was committed and further providing for amendment or expunction of information and for evidence in court proceedings; and making editorial changes.

Summary

HB1369 would substantially lengthen how long child abuse and general protective services records are kept in Pennsylvania’s Statewide database. The bill changes the retention period for unfounded child abuse reports, invalid general protective services reports, and certain valid general protective services reports from 1 year or 10 years to 30 years, and it removes several age-based expunction triggers tied to a child reaching age 23. It also revises related notice, recordkeeping, and expunction procedures so that county agencies and the department keep local records aligned with the Statewide database. The bill also repeals a separate section that currently allows expunction of an indicated report against a perpetrator who was under 18 when the abuse occurred, subject to specified conditions. In its place, the bill keeps the Statewide database’s ability to retain names of perpetrators and school employees indefinitely when the department has a Social Security number or date of birth, while continuing to allow amendment of records and appeals for indicated reports that are inaccurate or maintained inconsistently with the chapter. The measure makes conforming changes to provisions on confidential reports, administrative review, and evidence in child abuse proceedings, and it would take effect 60 days after enactment.

Impact

HB1369 would amend Title 23 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, specifically the Child Protective Services Law, by extending record-retention periods, repealing a juvenile-perpetrator expunction provision, and updating related amendment/expunction and evidentiary rules. The practical effect would be to keep more child welfare records in the Statewide database for longer periods, reduce automatic expunction opportunities, and preserve more identifying information about subjects of reports, perpetrators, and school employees for use by the department and county agencies. County agencies would still be required to keep their records consistent with state records, though they could retain expunged information for internal risk assessment and research purposes.

Sentiment

Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee debate or votes in the provided materials, the overall sentiment appears to be policy-driven and protective of child welfare record integrity rather than overtly partisan. The bill’s sponsors appear to favor longer retention and fewer automatic deletions, suggesting concern that existing expunction timelines may remove information too quickly. No opposing arguments are documented in the provided context, but the changes imply a likely tension between child-safety/record-access goals and privacy or rehabilitation concerns for families and juveniles.

Contention

The main points of contention are likely to be the much longer retention periods and the repeal of the special expunction rule for perpetrators who were under 18 at the time of the abuse. Supporters would likely argue that longer retention improves child protection, risk assessment, and investigative continuity, while opponents may argue that keeping unfounded or invalid reports for 30 years is overly punitive, burdens privacy, and can create lasting consequences from allegations that were not substantiated. Another likely issue is the removal of age-23 expunction triggers and the indefinite retention of certain names in the database, which may be viewed as reducing opportunities for rehabilitation and record clearing, especially for juveniles.