Bill · S. 2590· Senate(119-S-2590)
Fresh Start Act of 2025
- Introduced
- 7/31/2025
- Last activity
- 7/31/2025 — Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
- Sponsored by
- Chris Van Hollen
- Cosponsors
- - 2 - 0
- Introduced
- In Committee
What this bill would do
The Fresh Start Act of 2025 establishes a grant program to help States modernize criminal justice data infrastructure. This infrastructure is intended to facilitate the automatic expungement or sealing of criminal records. To be eligible, a State must have a covered expungement law that ensures records are not delayed due to unpaid fees or fines. The Attorney General may provide grants of up to $5,000,000 to eligible States. These funds are meant to implement infrastructure improvements to make the expungement process automatic.
Yes· 3 of 9
Does this shorten or soften prison sentences?+6
The bill facilitates the automatic expungement or sealing of criminal records once eligible.
Would households on low incomes be better off under this?+5
The bill ensures that criminal record expungement is not delayed by unpaid fees or fines, which disproportionately affects low-income individuals.
Would Black Americans be better off under this?+5
The bill's focus on automatic expungement can help reduce the disparate impact of criminal records on Black Americans.
The opposite
No question was scored the opposite.
Who it would affect, and how
Potential Positive Impacts for People
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Automatic Record Handling: The bill seeks to implement "automatic" processes, which means the expungement or sealing of a record occurs without the State requiring any action from the eligible individual (Section 2).
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Removal of Financial Barriers: Under the eligibility requirements, the State's law must provide that the expungement or sealing of a criminal record is not delayed because an individual failed to pay a fee or fine (Section 3).
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Data Transparency: The Attorney General is required to make a report available to the public every year containing data regarding the number of eligible individuals and those whose records have been expunged or sealed, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender (Section 5).
Potential Negative Impacts for People
- State Funding Limitations: The bill specifies that the portion of implementation costs provided by a grant may not exceed 75 percent (Section 4).
Groups and Interests Ranking
Every group the model scored this bill for, from -10 to +10. Hover a score for the reason it gave.
- Demographic And Interest Groups
- Good For African Americans+5Good For Hispanic Americans+5Good For Low Income Households+5Good For Women+5
- Social Issues And Justice
- Improves Criminal Sentencing Reform+6Improves Gender Equality+5Improves Racial Equity+5Improves Poverty Reduction+4
- Governance And Ideology
- Improves Government Transparency+5
- 12/16/2025
- 1 Cosponsor added.
- 7/31/2025
- Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
- 1 Cosponsor added.
- Introduced in Senate
Lisa Blunt RochesterDemocrat · Delaware
Christopher CoonsDemocrat · Delaware