The Fresh Start Act establishes a federal grant program to help states modernize their criminal justice data systems to automatically expunge or seal eligible criminal records without requiring individuals to take action themselves. States with automatic expungement laws that don't charge fees to eligible individuals can apply for grants of up to $5 million each, with states required to cover at least 25 percent of implementation costs. Grant funds can be used for planning (up to 10 percent) and infrastructure improvements to make record expungement or sealing automatic across their criminal justice systems. Recipient states must annually report data on eligible individuals and completed expungements broken down by race, ethnicity, and gender, with the Attorney General publishing public reports on this information. The bill authorizes $50 million in funding per year from 2026 through 2030 to support these state modernization efforts.
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