Tennessee House Bill HB0689

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/3/25
• Refer: 2/6/25

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 40, Chapter 32, relative to expungements.

Summary

HB0689 amends Tennessee’s expungement law to allow court clerks in counties with a population of 366,200 or more, based on the 2020 census or any later census, to create an automatic expungement processing program. In those counties, the clerk may initiate expungement of eligible public records without a petition from the person, without the certification otherwise required under the statute, and without a court order, so long as the person is already entitled to a free expungement under the referenced provisions of Tennessee law. The bill also directs that once the clerk issues notice of an expungement under this program, other agencies and officials must treat that notice the same as an expungement order from the court. The clerk must keep a confidential record of expunged cases, accessible only to the affected person and certain governmental entities performing official duties, and the bill states that clerks are not responsible for maintaining the program indefinitely and are not liable for errors or omissions under it.

Impact

The bill would create a county-specific exception to Tennessee’s existing expungement procedures in Title 40, Chapter 32 by authorizing automatic processing in the state’s most populous counties. It would reduce procedural steps for eligible individuals, shift some expungement processing from petition-based court action to clerk-initiated administrative action, and require state and local agencies to recognize clerk notices as equivalent to court expungement orders. It also establishes confidentiality rules for records maintained under the program and limits clerk liability.

Sentiment

The bill text reflects a generally supportive policy rationale, emphasizing that larger counties have heavier criminal dockets and more staff capacity to handle expungements efficiently. No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of opposition or support from legislators in the available materials. Based on the text alone, the measure appears intended as a practical administrative reform to improve access to expungement relief in high-population counties.

Contention

The main policy issue is the bill’s county-specific approach: it applies only to counties meeting the 366,200-population threshold, which could raise concerns about unequal access to automatic expungement procedures across Tennessee. Another possible point of contention is the delegation of expungement processing to clerks without a petition or court order, which may prompt questions about administrative accuracy, oversight, and record confidentiality. The bill attempts to address some of those concerns by making the records confidential and by limiting clerk liability, but no recorded debate is available to show whether those safeguards were disputed.