H.R. 3111 — Fresh Start Act of 2025

This section expands authorized uses of Bureau of Justice Statistics grants to states—provided subject to appropriations, with preference to states with the lowest percent currency of case dispositions in computerized criminal history files as of March 23, 2018, and prioritizing transmittal of felony conviction and domestic violence records—to include implementation of covered expungement laws, in addition to creating or improving computerized criminal history record systems, improving access to and transmittal of records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), and achieving compliance with NICS implementation plans. It defines a covered expungement law as a state law providing for automatic expungement or sealing (i.e., without action required from an eligible individual) of a criminal record, without delay for unpaid fees or fines and subject to state requirements (e.g., continued access by courts and law enforcement agencies). It further requires grant recipient states to annually report to the Attorney General, per agency guidelines, the number of individuals eligible for, expunged or sealed under, or with pending applications for such expungement or sealing (disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender); if data is unavailable, states must develop and report a plan to obtain it within one year of grant award; and directs the Attorney General to publish and make publicly available an annual report with the data beginning one year after enactment.