SB 628 Update

Senate Bill 628, Senator Walker’s bill to bar discrimination in employment and housing based solely on arrest records, ran into some unexpected roadblocks and will not pass this session. The bill, which received strong support from the Senate Commerce Committee, met with some resistance when technical issues arose around expungement statutes and the amount of time between an arrest and subsequent charges.

Sen. Walker, who fought mightily for the legislation, said she would ask the newly-named Governor’s Re-entry Council to pick up the issue and make recommendations on fixes to the bill for either the short February, 2008 session or the 2009 session.