Relating to the expungement of domestic abuse and sexual abuse dismissals

Description

House File 2419 provides that upon application by a respondent in a domestic abuse case pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 236 or a sexual abuse case pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 236A, the court is to enter an order expunging the record of either case if the court finds that the respondent has established that all of the following have occurred:

• The court has entered an order dismissing the petition alleging that the respondent committed domestic abuse or sexual abuse.
• All court costs, fees, and other financial obligations ordered against the respondent have been paid.
• At least 180 days have passed since the order dismissing the case was entered, unless the court finds good cause to waive this requirement.

The court may only enter an order expunging the record if all the parties have had time to object on the grounds that one or more of the relevant conditions have not been established. The record of a case expunged under this Bill is to be a confidential record exempt from public access but is to be made available by the clerk of the district court upon request and without court order to either the respondent, the plaintiff, or an agency or person granted access to the deferred judgment docket.

The above provisions are retroactive and apply to all relevant cases that occurred prior to, on, or after January 1, 2023.

The Bill also amends the definition of “expunged” to include court records that are not criminal in nature.

Background

Iowa Code chapter 236 provides for protective orders for plaintiffs seeking relief from domestic abuse. Iowa Code chapter 236A provides for protective orders for plaintiffs seeking relief from sexual abuse.

Assumptions

• Most expungement applications will pertain to cases that were dismissed within the last 10 years, and it is unknown how many will pertain to cases older than 10 years.
• Upon enactment of the Bill, there may be an increase in applications filed within the first 2 years for petitions that were dismissed over the last 10 years.
• It is not known how many new dismissals will be followed by expungement applications. For the purposes of this analysis, a range is provided with a low end of 33.0% and a high end of 66.0% is assumed.
• For petitions dismissed over the prior 10 years, a lower percentage will have expungement applications than for petitions dismissed in the last year. For the first year after enactment, 25.0% of petitions dismissed over the prior 10 years are assumed to receive an application for dismissal. For the second year after enactment, 10.0% is assumed. For the years thereafter, 0.0% is assumed.
• Some cases for which there is no resistance may take less court time, and some cases involving resistance may take more court time. It is assumed that each expungement application will take on average 0.17 hours to 0.33 hours of court time.
• The cost per hour for a hearing with a district associate judge is $205.54. This also includes one hour of court reporter time, one hour of judicial specialist time, and one-half hour of clerk of court time.
• In the last 10 years, approximately 30,600 domestic abuse and sexual abuse petitions were dismissed. On average, approximately 3,060 domestic abuse and sexual abuse petitions are dismissed each year.
• Because this Bill provides for the expungement of records and also grants rights for specified parties to access the expunged records, some Judicial Branch programming changes and workflow changes will be necessary to accommodate this type of recordkeeping. The Judicial Branch reports that programming changes and personnel costs to design, implement, and train on new workflows and protocol will cost approximately $80,000 in one-time expenses.

Fiscal Impact

As shown in Table 1 below, House File 2419 is estimated to have a fiscal impact to the Judicial Branch ranging between $302,000 and $656,000 in FY 2023 for court time for expungement applications. Additionally, the Judicial Branch estimates approximately $80,000 of initial one-year costs for changes to recordkeeping of expunged records. The total cost to the Judicial Branch for FY 2023 is estimated to be between $382,000 and $736,000. The fiscal impact to the Judicial Branch for FY 2024 is estimated to be between $142,000 and $345,000. The fiscal impact to the Judicial Branch for FY 2025 and afterward is estimated to be between $35,000 and $137,000. The Judicial Branch is funded through the General Fund.

Table 1 — Estimated Cost of HF 2419 to Judicial BranchDismissals from Last 10 Years

Dismissals from

Current Year Total Dismissals from

Last 10 Years

Dismissals from

Current Year Total Dismissals from

Last 10 Years

Dismissals from

Current Year Total

Number of

Dismissals 30,600 3,060 33,660 30,600 3,060 33,660 30,600 3,060 33,660

Percent of

Dismissals Receiving

an Application 25.0% 33.0% N/A 10.0% 33.0% N/A 0.0% 33.0% N/A

Court Time Per

Application (Hours) 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 Cost Per Hour $205.54 $205.54 $205.54 $205.54 $205.54 $205.54 $205.54 $205.54 $205.54 Total Cost $267,000 $35,000 $302,000 $107,000 $35,000 $142,000 $0 $35,000 $35,000

Number of

Dismissals 30,600 3,060 33,660 30,600 3,060 33,660 30,600 3,060 33,660

Percent of

Dismissals Receiving

an Application 25.0% 66.0% N/A 10.0% 66.0% N/A 0.0% 66.0% N/A

Court Time Per

Application (Hours) 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.33 Cost Per Hour $205.54 $205.54 $205.54 $205.54 $205.54 $205.54 $205.54 $205.54 $205.54 Total Cost $519,000 $137,000 $656,000 $208,000 $137,000 $345,000 $0 $137,000 $137,000 FY 2023 FY 2024 FY 2025 And On If 33.0% of Dismissals from the Current Year Receive an Application and Each Application Takes 0.17 Hours of Court Time If 66.0% of Dismissals from the Current Year Receive an Application and Each Application Takes 0.33 Hours of Court Time

Sources

• Judicial Branch
• Legislative Services Agency