COLUMBUS – Legislation awaiting the governor’s signature could open the door for cities to execute mass expungements of drug possession offenses from their citizens’ records.
The proposal comes after Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb in April announced plans to apply to expunge more than 4,000 convictions for the possession of marijuana. He later walked his attempt back after running into a state-level legal blockage.
Bibb, a Democrat in his first term, worked with Sen. Nathan Manning, a Republican from North Ridgeville, on a state proposal to give cities and prosecutors the power to apply for expungement on a person’s behalf. Too many people dogged by minor drug offenses don’t know how to navigate the current expungement process or lack the means to hire an attorney for help, Bibb said in an interview.
“We wanted to remove some barriers for folks trying to get a job or seek additional educational opportunities,” he said. “We tried to test the limits of the law.”
Under the bill passed in the Ohio legislature’s lame-duck session this month, a county prosecutor or city law director can apply to expunge fourth-degree or minor misdemeanor drug offenses in the court that sentenced a suspect. Both the offender and victim must be notified and granted an opportunity to object.
It would apply to those convicted of possessing less than 200 grams of marijuana.
A DeWine spokesman said the governor plans to sign the legislation, which contains a sweeping overhaul of state criminal justice laws addressing the sealing of criminal records, sentence reductions, easing penalties for underage drinking and others. It passed with overwhelming support from both chambers of the general assembly.
Manning included the new expungement powers within Senate Bill 288 with the goal of giving more people a chance to clear their names and re-enter society with stable housing and good jobs. He said the expungement narrowly targets marijuana offenses in a country that has increasingly warmed up to allowing adults to use marijuana for medicinal or recreational purposes.
Under the bill, applications for expungement would be valid six months after the final action of a minor misdemeanor.
“At the end of the day, this is [like] a traffic ticket that is being sealed or expunged,” Manning said. “There are no victims. But because this is a drug offense, it has been this major barrier on employment and other things.”
Bibb cited recent action in Birmingham, Alabama, as precedent. There, the mayor announced in April he would administer pardons in bulk for any citizens convicted of misdemeanor marijuana charges in the last eight months of 2021. Local officials in Cincinnati have explored the concept of mass expungement for marijuana offenses as well but hit the same legal dead end as Bibb.
Earlier this year, President Joe Biden issued a blanket pardon to all Americans convicted of federal marijuana possession charges. However, most marijuana convictions stem from state and local charges, which is beyond the federal government’s reach.
If signed, the bill would take effect 90 days later, at which point Bibb said he expects to move quickly on seeking the expungements.
Rather than a political faceplant, Bibb characterized the eight-month process as one of clearing the kinds of hurdles that arise when pushing for structural change.
“I always anticipated that we would have a legal roadblock,” he said. “We knew that going in. But anything you want to do to structurally change the game for folks that deserve a second chance in this city and in this state, it’s always going to be met with some resistance.”
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