House Bill 2554, which has been signed by the Governor of Kansas, says that after July 1, 2006, there will no more expungements of diversions or convictions for DUI in city courts. You can expunge just about any other diversion or conviction, but not a DUI. Why are DUI cases treated differently? I am not entirely sure, but Kansas DUI cases are always treated differently. I suppose the rationale is that the prosecutors are having a hard time finding prior DUI’s that have been expunged. Now that DUI diversions and convictions are counted against a person for his or her entire lifetime, they are trying to eliminate hurdles to finding prior cases. Expungement did not seem to be stopping them in the years prior to July 1, 2006, but I can’t think of any other reason to all of a sudden start treating Kansas DUI’s differently than all of the other possible crimes. So, no more DUI expungements.
If you received a DUI diversion or conviction prior to July 1, 2006, I do believe that you can still have that case expunged. The courts should look to the expungement statute that was in effect at the time you received a DUI in Kansas. So, this new law should be applied prospectively and not retroactively. In other words, the only DUI’s which will not be expungeable are those that occur after July 1, 2006. But, you never know how the law will be applied, especially Kansas DUI law.
UPDATE:This law was changed as of July 1, 2011, to allow expungement of DUI convictions or diversions after 10 years.