Hawaii First-Time Property Offense Expungement — HRS § 706-622.9

The First-Time Property Conviction Exception in Hawaii Law

Hawaii blocks expungement for nearly all adult convictions — but HRS § 706-622.9 opens a narrow pathway for first-time property offenders. If you were convicted for the first time of a qualifying class C felony property offense under chapter 708, you may be able to have the conviction expunged after successfully completing the required probation and treatment conditions.

This statute works alongside HRS § 706-622.5 (first-time drug offenses) and HRS § 291E-64 (under-21 DUI) as one of only three ways to clear an actual conviction from your Hawaii record without a gubernatorial pardon.

Eligibility Requirements

The 706-622.9 pathway requires a specific set of conditions:

• First qualifying property offense. The conviction must be your first qualifying class C felony property offense under Hawaii law. A prior felony conviction in Hawaii or another jurisdiction makes you ineligible under this pathway.
• Qualifying offense types. The statute covers qualifying class C felony property offenses under chapter 708; not every property charge qualifies.
• Court-ordered probation and treatment. The court must find that you are nonviolent and that the offense is related to substance-abuse dependency or addiction, and the probation plan must include the required treatment conditions.
• Successful completion of every condition. You must successfully complete the substance-abuse treatment program and comply with the other terms and conditions of probation. The court will not issue the expungement order unless the statutory conditions are met.

How the Court-Order-to-Expungement Pipeline Works

The process mirrors the first-time drug offense pathway:

1. Complete probation. After you complete the required treatment and other probation conditions, you or your probation officer may submit a written application to the court.
2. Court issues an expungement order. The court issues the order when the statutory requirements are met.
3. File for expungement with the HCJDC. Once you have the court's expungement order, submit Form 159(b) with the $35 fee (first-time) or $50 (subsequent) to the HCJDC. Attach a copy of the expungement order.
4. HCJDC processes the expungement. The administrative review takes up to 120 days.
5. Automatic court sealing (post-July 2025) for qualifying cases. The HCJDC transmits the expungement order to the judiciary, which removes the case from eCourt Kōkua when the case meets the HRS § 831-3.2(f) sealing requirements.

What Makes This Pathway Tricky

Two complications catch people off guard:

The multi-charge trap. If your property offense was part of a case with multiple charges — say a theft charge alongside a trespass charge — and the other charge isn't covered by the expungement order, the entire case may stay on eCourt Kōkua even if the property conviction is expunged. Under HRS § 831-3.2(f), the court cannot seal a case where a co-charged offense is not covered by the expungement certificate.

Restitution completion timing. If restitution is a condition of your sentence, confirm with the court that you have satisfied it before seeking the expungement order. If you still owe restitution, the court may not find that you complied with all probation terms.

The Practical Impact

A successful property offense expungement removes the conviction information from the statewide HCJDC repository. Related court records may be removed from eCourt Kōkua through the post-July 1, 2025 transmission process, but the arresting agency or courts may retain records. For job applicants, this matters because Hawaii's employer lookback limits (seven years for felonies, five years for misdemeanors) only apply to convictions that are still on your record. An expunged property conviction drops out of the background check entirely.

For rental applications, the impact is equally direct — the conviction no longer appears in the automated tenant-screening databases that landlords use.

Our Hawaii Expungement Guide covers the full 706-622.9 pathway, including documentation requirements for probation completion, the court expungement application, and the HCJDC expungement application.

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