Safe & Just Michigan - May, 2021

DUI Expungement Continues

Legislative Journey

The effort to bring expungement opportunities to people who have a conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol continued its way through the state Legislature in April. At this point, the bills are awaiting a vote before the Senate, having undergone a few changes in the Senate’s Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.

This is the second time in as many years that lawmakers have attempted to bring DUI expungement to Michigan. After securing the approval of an overwhelming majority of both Democratic and Republican legislators in 2020, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer opted to pocket veto the measure without offering an explanation.

A bipartisan team of lawmakers – Rep. Joseph Bellino (R-Monroe) and Rep. Tenisha Yancey (D-Detroit) — reintroduced the proposal as House Bills 4219-20 earlier this year. The proposal would allow people to request to have a first conviction for DUI expunged through a petition process.

After quickly securing approval in the House, the plan moved the Senate and was referred to the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. That committee had to change the effective date originally stated in the bills — April 1, 2021 — as that date had already passed. The new effective date is 180 days after it is enacted into law.

A more substantial change increases the wait period a person must observe before applying for a DUI expungement. Originally, the wait time had been set to three years from the completion of a sentence (a discharge from prison, parole, probation or another form of sentence). Newly introduced Senate Bill 400, authored by Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan), increases that wait period to five years. As of this writing, SB 400 was scheduled to be considered by the House Judiciary Committee on May 18.

We’ll keep you updated as this proposal continues its way through the legislative process.

Help people pursue expungements

With six of seven Clean Slate laws now in effect in Michigan, we’re hearing that calls for help are pouring into law offices, legal help agencies, and nonprofits across our state. Over the coming months, Safe & Just Michigan will be partnering with several nonprofits, community organizations, and other groups to bring Clean Slate information sessions to as many people as possible. If you’d like us to work with you on bringing one of these events to people in your area, please contact us at

info@safeandjustmi.org or by phone at 517.482.7753.

There are also resources available for people who want to take the initiative in pursuing an expungement on their own. These are free or low-cost resources that you can share with people you know who are hoping to get their records cleared under the new laws:

• Michigan Legal Help:
https://michiganlegalhelp.org/self-help-tools/crime-traffic-and-id/i-have-adult-criminal-conviction-i-would-set-aside-expunge
• Michigan Legal Aid intake:
https://michiganlegalhelp.org/call_intake_intro or 888.783.8190
• Michigan Attorney General Office’s Expungement Resources:
mi.gov/agexpunge
• Michigan Supreme Court Clean Slate website: https://courts.michigan.gov/News-Events/Pages/CleanSlate.aspx
• City of Detroit’s Project Clean Slate (Detroit residents only):
https://detroitmi.gov/departments/law-department/project-clean-slate or
313.237.3024
• Oakland County Clean Slate Program (Oakland County residents only):
https://www.oakgov.com/workforce/Pages/Clean-Slate.aspx