Tennessee Senate Bill SB1224

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/6/25

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, Chapter 19 and Title 40, Chapter 32, relative to expunction.

Summary

SB1224 amends Tennessee’s expunction law by shortening the waiting period for certain offenses from fifteen years to ten years. The bill makes a targeted change to Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 40-32-101(m)(1)(A), which governs when a person may seek expungement of a criminal record under specified conditions. By reducing the waiting period, the bill would allow eligible individuals to pursue expunction sooner than under current law. The act takes effect July 1, 2025, and does not appear to create a new expunction process or change the underlying eligibility criteria beyond the time requirement addressed in the bill text.

Impact

The bill would amend Tennessee’s criminal record expungement statute in Title 40, Chapter 32, lowering the statutory waiting period from 15 years to 10 years for the affected category of offenses. This change would primarily affect individuals seeking to clear eligible criminal records, as well as courts and clerks that process expunction petitions. The bill does not alter Title 2, Chapter 19 in the text provided, despite the caption reference, and its practical legal effect is limited to the specific timing provision it revises.

Sentiment

No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of debate, support, or opposition in the available materials. Based on the bill’s narrow scope, the measure appears to be a technical policy adjustment rather than a broad criminal justice overhaul. The available record does not show any formal controversy or bipartisan division.

Contention

Because there are no committee discussions or votes in the record, no specific points of contention can be identified from the provided materials. In general, bills shortening expunction waiting periods can raise policy questions about balancing second chances and rehabilitation against public-safety concerns and record-retention interests, but those issues are not documented here. The only clear substantive change in the text is the reduction of the waiting period from fifteen to ten years.