The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Subchapter
011
:
MISCELLANEOUS REGULATORY POWERS
(Cite as: 24 V.S.A. § 2296b)
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§ 2296b. Expungement of municipal violation records
(a) Expungement. Two years following the satisfaction of a judgment resulting from an adjudication
of a municipal violation, the Judicial Bureau shall make an entry of “expunged” and
notify the municipality of such action, provided the person has not been adjudicated
for any subsequent municipal violations during that time. The data transfer to the
municipality shall include the name, date of birth, ticket number, and offense. Violations
of offenses adopted pursuant to chapter 117 of this title shall not be eligible for
expungement under this section.
(b) Effect of expungement.
(1) Upon entry of an expungement order, the order shall be legally effective immediately
and the individual whose record is expunged shall be treated in all respects as if
the individual had never been adjudicated of the violation.
(2) Upon an entry of expunged, the case will be accessible only by the Clerk of the Court
for the Judicial Bureau or the Clerk’s designee. Adjudications that have been expunged
shall not appear in the results of any Judicial Bureau database search by name, date
of birth, or any other data identifying the defendant. Except as provided in subsection
(c) of this section, any documents or other records related to an expunged adjudication
that are maintained outside the Judicial Bureau’s case management system shall be
destroyed.
(3) Upon receiving an inquiry from any person regarding an expunged record, the Judicial
Bureau and the municipality shall respond that “NO RECORD EXISTS.”
(c) Exception for research entities. Research entities that maintain adjudication records for purposes of collecting, analyzing,
and disseminating criminal justice data shall not be subject to the expungement requirements
established in this section. Research entities shall abide by the policies established
by the Court Administrator and shall not disclose any identifying information from
the records they maintain.
(d) Policies for implementation. The Court Administrator shall establish policies for implementing this section.
(e) Application. This section shall apply to municipal violations that occur on and after July 1,
2025. (Added 2025, No. 60, § 3, eff. July 1, 2025.)