Colorado lawmakers are working on legislation that would expunge past cannabis-related convictions, but questions remain about whether a forthcoming bill will establish an automatic expungement process or whether people will have to apply to have their records cleared.
As Colorado enters its seventh year of legalized cannabis, State Rep. Jonathan Singer (D-Longmont) has announced that there will be expungement legislation introduced in 2020, according to a Denver Post report.
“The goal and the hope is to make it automatic,” Singer told the news outlet. “The question is how. It’s a question of time and cost.”
Legislation in 2017 allowed those convicted of low-level cannabis offenses in the state to petition to have their conviction records sealed, the Denver Post reported, and expungement through application is already available in Denver and Boulder County, but only 71 people out of more than 17,000 eligible candidates have been successful in having their records cleared as of mid-October.
