Indiana 2025 Regular Session Status: Enacted Bipartisan · 4 R · 2 D cosponsors

SB 281 — Expungement.

Last action — Public Law 77

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Senate
  4. ✓
    Passed House
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced January 13, 2025. Enacted.

Signed by Governor Mike Braun (Republican) on April 16, 2025.

Odds of enactment

High chance

Based on the sponsor, cosponsors, and committee posture, this bill has a high chance of becoming law.

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A statistical estimate from our own model of past outcomes — an insight, not a guarantee. Policymaking is volatile.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 78% · moderate confidence

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 6 sponsors

    3 primary, 3 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Bipartisan support

    Sponsored across 2 parties (4 R · 2 D) — cross-party backing.

Based on stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes, and cross-state momentum — a description of the observable signals, not a prediction.

Summary

Specifies that certain records relating to juvenile offenses are accessible to a law enforcement officer acting within the scope of the officer's duties, and requires persons having custody of these records to take steps to ensure that these records are available in a timely manner. Specifies that the juvenile court shall cooperate to ensure that certain records are available to the prosecuting attorney or a deputy. Allows the expungement of official misconduct if: (1) the person seeking the expungement is not an elected official; and (2) the prosecuting attorney consents. Permits disclosure to the state police department of certain sealed records if disclosure is required for the purpose of expunging or marking as expunged records in the central repository for criminal history information. Prohibits expungement for a person convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. Requires the office of judicial administration, before July 1, 2025, to establish an electronic system for transmitting a chronological case summary to the state police department for purposes of expungement. Prohibits the expungement of certain records of a person holding a commercial driver's license or permit. Makes certain expungement provisions that apply to elected officials also apply to elected or appointed judicial officers.

Bill Text

We don't have the full text on file for this bill yet.

Read SB 281 on the official Indiana source →

Action History

  1. Public Law 77

  2. Signed by the Governor

  3. Signed by the President of the Senate

  4. Signed by the President Pro Tempore

  5. Signed by the Speaker

  6. Senate concurred with House amendments; Roll Call 355: yeas 48, nays 0

  7. Motion to concur filed

  8. Returned to the Senate with amendments

  9. Third reading: passed; Roll Call 321: yeas 71, nays 21

  10. Third reading: call withdrawn

  11. Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed

  12. Amendment #1 (Zimmerman) prevailed; voice vote

  13. Representative Gore added as cosponsor

  14. Committee report: amend do pass, adopted

  15. Representative Zimmerman added as cosponsor

  16. First reading: referred to Committee on Courts and Criminal Code

  17. Referred to the House

  18. Third reading: passed; Roll Call 182: yeas 47, nays 2

  19. House sponsor: Representative Steuerwald

  20. Amendment #3 (Young M) prevailed; voice vote

  21. Senator Randolph added as coauthor

  22. Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed

  23. Amendment #2 (Pol) failed; voice vote

  24. Amendment #1 (Pol) failed; voice vote

  25. Committee report: amend do pass, adopted

  26. Senator Freeman added as second author

  27. First reading: referred to Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law

  28. Authored by Senator Baldwin

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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3 sponsors · 3 co-sponsors · 144 not signed on

Sponsors (3)

Co-sponsors (3)

Not signed on (144)

144 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 144 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

public-safety civil-rights
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does SB 281 do?
Specifies that certain records relating to juvenile offenses are accessible to a law enforcement officer acting within the scope of the officer's duties, and requires persons having custody of these records to take steps to ensure that these records are available in a timely manner. Specifies that the juvenile court shall cooperate to ensure that certain records are available to the prosecuting attorney or a deputy. Allows the expungement of official misconduct if: (1) the person seeking the expungement is not an elected official; and (2) the prosecuting attorney consents. Permits disclosure to the state police department of certain sealed records if disclosure is required for the purpose of expunging or marking as expunged records in the central repository for criminal history information. Prohibits expungement for a person convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. Requires the office of judicial administration, before July 1, 2025, to establish an electronic system for transmitting a chronological case summary to the state police department for purposes of expungement. Prohibits the expungement of certain records of a person holding a commercial driver's license or permit. Makes certain expungement provisions that apply to elected officials also apply to elected or appointed judicial officers.
Who sponsors SB 281?
SB 281 is sponsored by Mitch Gore (Democrat), Alex Zimmerman (Republican), Gregory Steuerwald (Republican), Lonnie Randolph (Democrat), Aaron Freeman (Republican), and Scott Baldwin (Republican).
What is the current status of SB 281?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced January 13, 2025. Enacted.
Where can I track SB 281?
Track SB 281 free on One Click Politics — get push/email alerts when it moves.

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Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

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