Nebraska Clean Slate Act LB 215 — Current Status and What It Means

What LB 215 Would Have Done

Legislative Bill 215, introduced in the 2025 session of the Nebraska Legislature, was the state's most significant attempt at automatic record clearing for adult convictions. Modeled on "Clean Slate" laws that have passed in over a dozen states, the bill proposed a system where certain criminal records would be automatically sealed after a waiting period — without requiring the person to file a petition, appear in court, or pay filing fees.

The bill would have also created a "Second Chance Relief" pathway, establishing a program for obtaining a commutation from the Board of Pardons through a more streamlined process than the current pardon application.

The Bill Was Indefinitely Postponed

LB 215 was indefinitely postponed by the Nebraska Legislature on April 17, 2026. Indefinite postponement is effectively a legislative kill — the bill is dead for the current session and would need to be reintroduced in a future session to be considered again.

This means Nebraska has no automatic record-clearing mechanism for adult convictions. Every form of conviction relief remains a manual, petition-based process that requires the individual to file paperwork, pay fees, and appear in court or before the Board of Pardons.

What Nebraska Does Have Right Now

Without Clean Slate legislation, these are the existing pathways:

Automatic sealing exists, but only for non-convictions. Dismissals and acquittals occurring after December 31, 2016, are automatically sealed by operation of law — no petition required. The court clerk handles this electronically. If your case was dismissed before 2017, you need to file a manual Motion to Seal (Form CC 6:12).

Juvenile records get automatic sealing. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 43-2,108.01 through 43-2,108.05, juvenile records are generally sealed automatically upon case closure.

Adult convictions require a manual petition. If you have an eligible misdemeanor or felony conviction (probation, fine-only, community service, or jail of one year or less), you must file a Petition to Set Aside under § 29-2264. Filing fees run $87 to $144, a court hearing is mandatory, and the record stays visible on background checks even after the order is granted.

Severe convictions require a pardon. Felonies with prison sentences over one year, sex offenses, and motor vehicle offenses can only be addressed through a pardon from the Nebraska Board of Pardons, followed by a separate judicial sealing petition. The pardon waiting period is 10 years for felonies, and the entire process typically takes two to five years after the application is submitted.

Why This Matters

States with Clean Slate laws have found that the vast majority of people eligible for record relief never file. National data shows that less than 10% of eligible individuals actually go through the petition process — the combination of filing fees, time off work for court hearings, confusion about forms, and fear of engaging with the legal system keeps most people from pursuing relief they qualify for.

Nebraska's petition-based system means that a large number of residents carry records that could be set aside or sealed but never will be — not because they are ineligible, but because the process is too intimidating, too expensive, or too confusing to navigate without help.

How Nebraska Compares to Clean Slate States

Over a dozen states have enacted some form of automatic record clearing since Pennsylvania became the first in 2018. The details vary, but the general model is the same: after a defined waiting period with no new offenses, eligible convictions are automatically sealed without the person filing anything.

In states with functioning Clean Slate systems, sealing rates have jumped dramatically. Pennsylvania's automated system sealed over 40 million cases in its first few years of operation. Michigan, Utah, and Virginia have followed with their own versions.

Nebraska's system requires every step to happen manually. You pull your own records ($47.00 minimum), fill out the right forms, pay filing fees ($87.00 to $144.00), serve the prosecutor, and appear in court to testify. If you need a pardon because your conviction is too serious for a set-aside, you file an application and wait two to five years for a hearing at the State Capitol. Each conviction requires a separate filing in the court where it was originally entered — multiple convictions in multiple counties means multiple trips, multiple fees, and multiple hearings.

The gap between what the law makes available and what people actually use is where most of the lost opportunity sits.

What Might Come Next

The indefinite postponement of LB 215 does not prevent similar legislation from being introduced in future sessions. Several advocacy organizations, including Legal Aid of Nebraska's Clean Slate Project and the University of Nebraska College of Law's Civil Clinic, continue to push for automated record clearing. National momentum has been strong — Clean Slate legislation has passed with bipartisan support in multiple states between 2023 and 2026.

If Nebraska eventually enacts a Clean Slate law, it would likely cover low-level misdemeanors and potentially some felonies after extended waiting periods. But that legislation does not exist today, and the timeline for any future bill is uncertain.

In the meantime, the existing manual pathways remain the only options. The process is navigable without a lawyer for straightforward cases — but you need to know which pathway applies to your specific situation, which forms to file, what the filing fees are, and what to expect at the hearing.

The Nebraska Expungement & Record Sealing Guide walks through every current pathway step by step, including the exact forms, fee waiver applications, and hearing preparation that the court system does not explain on its self-help pages.

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