HB 2399 creates a certificate of restoration of opportunity. The certificate is intended to help reduce barriers to employment for adults and juveniles who have a criminal history. The legislation identifies the requirements necessary to apply for a certificate (e.g. one year has passed from sentencing for those sentenced by a WA state court to probation or receiving a deferred sentence or other noncustodial sentencing for a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor offense or an equivalent juvenile adjudication; 18 months have passed from release from total confinement from a WA prison or jail for those sentenced by a WA state court to incarceration for a misdemeanor); and what the court must consider when determining whether to issue a certificate. Employers and housing providers are given the discretion to consider, or not, a certificate when making employment or rental decisions. The certificate does not apply to the state abuse and neglect registry and HB 2399 states that no finding of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of property may be removed from the registry based solely on a certificate.
The bill allows a reasonable processing fee, not to exceed $50, to be charged by the clerk of the court at the time the application for a certificate of restoration of opportunity is filed.
