When does Missouri automatic expungement start?

The statute requires the system to operate when technically feasible and no later than January 1, 2027, with the Highway Patrol screening and clearing eligible records on a rolling basis.

Does the Clean Slate law cover DWI?

No. The one-time ten-year expungement of a first alcohol-related driving offense under RSMo 610.130 remains petition-only and is not part of the automatic system.

Expungement Hub · Automatic · Updated July 13, 2026

What Missouri's Clean Slate law actually automates.

Q: Is expungement automatic in Missouri now?

Partially. The Clean Slate law signed July 9, 2026 creates automatic expungement for certain eligible nonviolent records — centered on drug possession and paraphernalia convictions — run by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, no later than January 1, 2027. Most other records still require a petition under RSMo 610.140.

By Ty McDuffey, J.D. · Back to the hub

Missouri's Clean Slate law — part of Senate Bill 1421, signed July 9, 2026 — automatically expunges certain eligible nonviolent records, centered on drug possession and paraphernalia convictions: misdemeanors one year after the case fully resolves, felonies after three. The Highway Patrol runs it, no petition and no fee, no later than January 1, 2027.

Is expungement automatic in Missouri now?

Partially — and the gap between "partially" and the headlines is where most people's questions live. The automatic track covers a defined set of eligible nonviolent offenses; the legislative push and the enacting language center on felony and misdemeanor drug possession and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia. Violent offenses and offenses against children are expressly excluded. Everything outside the covered set stays exactly where it was: on the petition track under RSMo §610.140.

How the automatic system works

Instead of court-by-court paperwork, the Missouri State Highway Patrol's central records repository screens records by offense code and clears eligible entries on a rolling basis — as the Senate co-sponsor described it, people will "wake up, essentially the next morning," with the record cleared. Eligible misdemeanors clear one year after final disposition; eligible felonies after three years, with clean conduct in between. Automatic clearings count against the same lifetime caps as petitions — three misdemeanors, two felonies — under new statutory sections created by the bill. The system must run "when technically feasible" and no later than January 1, 2027.

What the automatic system will not do

It won't touch most record types. Non-drug offenses, arrests that never became convictions, and anything on the exclusion list stay petition-track. It won't do the ten-year DWI expungement. §610.130 remains petition-only. It won't be instant for everyone. "No later than January 1, 2027" is when the system must exist, not when every eligible record is clean — Missouri's marijuana auto-expungement after 2022 cleared digital records fast and left paper records grinding for years. And it can't exercise judgment — records the matching system misses, miscodes, or can't read (older non-digital cases) will need a human to fix, which means a petition.

So should you wait, or file?

If your record is a covered nonviolent drug conviction and nothing urgent rides on it: waiting may cost you nothing but time — verify next year that the clearing happened and keep proof of your sentence-completion date. If your record falls outside the automatic lane, includes an arrest, involves the DWI rule, or a job, lease, license, or custody matter can't wait for a state rollout — the petition track works today. Start with the eligibility rules and the real costs.

The bigger picture

Fewer than one percent of eligible Missourians were getting expungements under the petition-only system — advocates put the economic cost in the billions in suppressed annual wages statewide. Automating the simplest cases is the state admitting the process itself was the barrier. The honest one-sentence summary of the Clean Slate law: the easiest records will now clean themselves, and everyone else just got a very good reason to find out which kind they have.

Check where you stand The eligibility page walks the rules; a ninety-second interactive checker is in the works. The Launch Letter will announce it — plus one email when flat-fee expungement work opens here in 2027.

Educational content only, current as of July 13, 2026 — verify against the enrolled bill text and codified statutes (new sections under RSMo Chapter 610) before relying on any date or limit. Not legal advice; no attorney-client relationship. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.