By Josh Hinkel, Staff Attorney
Each year, April is recognized as Second Chance Month to raise awareness and recognize the importance of assisting individuals reentering our communities following their interactions with the judicial system. Second Chance Month also highlights what services are available to help reentering citizens on their journey to secure employment, housing and more.
For those of us who call Ohio home, 2025 has already had two significant legal changes that will help improve the success rate of those reentering.
House Bill 29
The first significant change came from House Bill 29. According to a study conducted by the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, about 1 million drivers in Ohio had their licenses suspended between 2016 and 2020. Those 1 million drivers accumulated a total of 3 million different driver’s license suspensions. But around 60% of those 3 million suspensions were for debt-related reasons, not driving infractions.
If someone in this situation fails to pay a fine in a court case, the court could, as a means of enforcement, suspend the driver’s license of that individual. This, unfortunately, resulted in many Ohioans charged with driving under a suspended license, which means more court debt and possibly another suspension.
House Bill 29 seeks to remedy this situation by eliminating the immediate suspension for failure to pay a court fine or fee. For those whose license is already suspended, House Bill 29 requires the Registrar of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to remove any driver's license suspension or motor vehicle registration suspensions imposed for failure to pay a court fine or fee. It has been reported that the suspensions must be lifted by May 9, 2025.
It is unclear how many Ohioans will immediately be able to get their license reinstated, but the impact of House Bill 29 is clear. Individuals will have their driving privileges restored and be mobile again, some for the first time in decades. This means that they can get to work without the risk of a new charge for driving under suspension, but it also means they can travel to doctor’s appointments, grocery stores, and gatherings of family and friends without the fear of another suspension.
Changes to Ohio’s Expungement and Record Sealing Law
Not only did the Ohio Legislature assist individuals whose licenses are suspended due to court debt, but they also made a few tweaks to R.C. 2953.32. In the 2023 changes to Ohio’s record sealing and expungement statute, the Ohio General Assembly put a limitation on felonies of the third degree. Specifically, these limitations focused on the number of convictions a person with a felony of the third degree has on their entire record. The 2025 changes added some clarity to these limitations as well as expanded access to sealing and expungement for individuals with a felony of the third degree, as convictions stemming from the same case or act now count as one for purposes of determining eligibility to remove a felony of the third degree.
What Community Legal Aid is doing to help reentering citizens
Second Chance Month is an opportunity to highlight the services Community Legal Aid provides to our clients, such as record sealing, expungement, and assistance with certificates of qualifications for employment. This Second Chance Month, Community Legal Aid is reinforcing its commitment to these clients thanks to additional funding to expand these services. As a recipient of OneOhio Recovery Foundation funding, we are now expanding our services with record sealing, expungement and certificates of qualification. In addition, we will continue to offer clients the opportunity to participate in the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s legal clinic, a monthly virtual record sealing and expungement clinic, throughout 2025.
Our attorneys look forward to continuing the work we have done for reentering citizens for years, and starting new endeavors in 2025 to help our neighbors reenter our communities successfully. Because when one of us succeeds, our community succeeds.