U.S. Rep Earl Blumenauer Wants to Take Oregon's Weed-Crime Expungement National

Willamette Week:

Oregon is poised to become a national model for erasing the stigma of past pot crimes.U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer will on Monday announce his plans to introduce federal legislation allowing people to expunge non-violent marijuana crimes from their criminal records.

Blumenauer will hold a media roundtable on July 20 with state Rep. Lew Frederick (D-Portland) and state Rep. Ann Lininger (D-Lake Oswego) to discuss his plan—modeled on similar legislation passed by Oregon lawmakers this year.

As WW first reported, Frederick and Lininger led the charge in Oregon to let people erase convictions for growing, selling or possessing weed, as long as the crimes occurred at least three years ago and didn’t involve a violent crime. The Legislature passed the law as part of a package of pot bills this month.

Blumenauer’s press release says he’ll announce his plan to take these efforts national. He will introduce federal legislation aimed at allowing marijuana offenders to expunge their records in cases where the activity was legal under state law.

Blumenauer’s spokeswoman Nicole D’Esperance declined to offer further details. “He'll be announcing his plans at the press event,” she says.

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