Senate version of expungement, prostitution surcharge up for public hearing

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The Wisconsin Senate version of proposed legislation to expand the state’s expungement process is up for a public hearing next week.

Senate Bill 39 would make a series of changes to Wisconsin’s expungement law. Among other things, the proposal would remove a rule that limits expungement to offenders who committed crimes before the age of 24 but would prohibit the expungement of records of certain traffic crimes.

The proposal would also give judges more leeway to issue expungement orders. Under current law, just who want to make such orders must do so during sentencing. The legislation would let judges, in cases in which expungement wasn’t ordered at sentencing, order expungement after offenders have completed their sentences.

The Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety will have a public hearing on SB 39 immediately after a vote at 10 a.m. March 19 in 330 Southwest at the state Capitol.

Also up for a hearing at the committee meeting on March 19 is SB 46, a proposal that would impose a $5,000 prostitution surcharge on certain criminal defendants.

The judiciary and public safety committee will also be hearing public testimony on three other bills, including SB 47, which calls for making it a felony to enter certain places such as buildings, homes, and railroad cars with the intent to commit a battery.

SB 39 and SB 46’s counterparts in the Assembly already got a hearing before a committee on March 7. The next stop for the bills is the full Legislature.