You shouldn’t be denied housing, employment or services by the government if you had smoked pot when you were 18.
Signal Cleveland by Jake Zuckerman
Signal Cleveland originally published this article. Sign up for their free newsletters at SignalCleveland.org/subscribe.
New legislation approved by the State House Wednesday could help clear the names of some of the thousands of Ohioans who have been convicted of marijuana offenses dating back to the 1990s.
This bill allows for expungement. It is a process which erases previous convictions, and can affect housing or job applications years after the fact. The bill only covers crimes involving possession of less than 2,5 ounces marijuana. Voters legalized the drug in 2023.
The provision for expungement was passed as part of a larger law on an 87-8 bipartisan vote. This sets new regulations on recreational marijuana sales and the so-called “intoxicating hemp” cannabis knockoffs.
Ohio has more than 16 000 arrests for illegal possession per annum
FBI statistics show that for most of the 21st Century, 16,000 Ohioans were arrested (but not necessarily convicted) each year. In 2019, Ohio legalized the use of medical marijuana. Then, in 2023, it allowed recreational marijuana use.
Although Joe Biden issued a pardon in 2022 for all federal marijuana charges, the convictions on state levels have continued to fester since then. House Bill enables many people with convictions on their record to have them expunged.
In a speech on Wednesday, Rep. Dani Isaacsohn (the ranking House Democrat) said that if you smoked a pipe when you turned 18, or in 2002 or in your forties, there should be no barriers in housing, employment or access to public services because of something you did when you reached 18.
How to request expungement of a bill
The ACLU and some Democratic legislators wanted more from the expungements. Rep. Desiree Timothy, a Dayton Democrat said that in committee, the bill needed to have an automatic mechanism for expungement, or at the very least, a way of notifying affected individuals about the new option. She said that the $50 application fee is something some people cannot afford.
Rep. Josh Williams is a Toledo Republican attorney and a regular advocate of expungement. He said that a recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling effectively bound lawmakers’ hands and required them to give judges discretion. He said SB56 provides defendants with every possible advantage while likely still passing muster in court.
In an interview, he stated that “we tilted as many scales as possible in the defendant’s favor.”
The leaders of the state legislature said Wednesday that House members and Senate will be required to negotiate an end package before sending it to Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican governor from Ohio. The legislation could drastically change from this point, and that includes the language on expungement.
Ohio law allows expungement of a wide range of crimes. SB 56 has a new expungement process that is tailored to marijuana offenses. According to Republican House Finance Chair Brian Stewart, who was a key negotiator in the negotiations, judges are compelled to approve an application, except if the prosecutor object. Williams said that marijuana-specific filings would be cheaper and the test for legality is stacked in favor of the defendant.
For a conviction to be expunged the applicant would need to present paperwork at the courtroom they were convicted to prove their crime stemmed from less than 2.5oz of marijuana.
It gives the county prosecutors, elected every four years in partisan races, a wide discretionary power to lodge objections. The judges then have between 45 and 90 days to conduct a hearing to weigh both sides.