Human Trafficking; exclude from expungement felony violations of., the official text

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2026 Regular Session

To: Judiciary B

By: Representatives McLean, Hale

House Bill 1546

(As Sent to Governor)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 99-19-71, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972,
TO REVISE EXPUNCTION OF CRIMINAL RECORD BY REDUCING THE WAITING PERIOD FOR
ELIGIBILITY; TO PROHIBIT THE EXPUNGEMENT OF THE FELONY CRIMES OF PROMOTING OR
PROCURING PROSTITUTION; TO AMEND SECTION 97-3-54.1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972,
TO CLARIFY THAT MINORS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR NONVIOLENT CRIMINAL ACTIVITY THAT
TAKES PLACE DURING VICTIMIZATION; TO AMEND SECTION 97-3-54.6, MISSISSIPPI CODE
OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT VACATUR OF PROSTITUTION CONVICTIONS ALSO APPLIES TO
ADJUDICATION OF DELINQUENCY; TO PROVIDE THAT VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING MAY
REQUEST THE COURT TO EXPUNGE MISDEMEANOR AND NONVIOLENT CONVICTIONS THAT WERE A
DIRECT RESULT OF THEIR VICTIMIZATION; TO PROVIDE AN AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE TO
CERTAIN CRIMINAL CHARGES THAT DIRECTLY RESULT FROM TRAFFICKING A VICTIM; AND
FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1.
Section 99-19-71, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

99-19-71.  (1)  Any person
who has been convicted of a misdemeanor that is not a traffic violation, and
who is a first offender, may petition the justice, county, circuit or municipal
court in which the conviction was had for an order to expunge any such
conviction from all public records.

(2)  (a)  Except as
otherwise provided in this subsection, a person who has been convicted of a
felony and who has paid all criminal fines and costs of court imposed in the
sentence of conviction may petition the court in which the conviction was had
for an order to expunge one (1) conviction from all public records * * * five (5) three (3) years after the
successful completion of all terms and conditions of the sentence for the
conviction upon a hearing as determined in the discretion of the court; however,
a person is not eligible to expunge a felony classified as:

(i)  A crime of
violence as provided in Section 97-3-2;

(ii)  Arson, first
degree as provided in Sections 97-17-1 and 97-17-3;

(iii)  Trafficking
in controlled substances as provided in Section 41-29-139;

(iv)  A third,
fourth or subsequent offense DUI as provided in Section 63-11-30(2)(c) and
(2)(d);

(v)  Felon in
possession of a firearm as provided in Section 97-37-5;

(vi)  Failure to
register as a sex offender as provided in Section 45-33-33;

(vii)  Voyeurism as
provided in Section 97-29-61;

(viii)  Witness
intimidation as provided in Section 97-9-113;

(ix)  Abuse,
neglect or exploitation of a vulnerable person as provided in Section 43-47-19; * * * or

(x)  Embezzlement
as provided in Sections 97-11-25 and 97-23-19 * * *.;

(xi)  Felony
procuring prostitution as provided in Section 97-29-51; or

(xii)  Promoting
prostitution as provided in Section 97-29-51.

A person is eligible for
only one (1) felony expunction under this paragraph (a).  For the
purposes of this section, the terms "one (1) conviction" and "one
(1) felony expunction" mean and include all convictions that arose from a
common nucleus of operative facts as determined in the discretion of the court.

(b)  The petitioner
shall give ten (10) days' written notice to the district attorney before any
hearing on the petition.  In all cases, the court wherein the petition is filed
may grant the petition if the court determines, on the record or in writing,
that the applicant is rehabilitated from the offense which is the subject of
the petition.  In those cases where the court denies the petition, the findings
of the court in this respect shall be identified specifically and not
generally.

(3)  Upon entering an order
of expunction under this section, a nonpublic record thereof shall be retained
by the Mississippi Criminal Information Center solely for the purpose of
determining whether, in subsequent proceedings, the person is a first offender.
The order of expunction shall not preclude a district attorney's office from
retaining a nonpublic record thereof for law enforcement purposes only.  The
existence of an order of expunction shall not preclude an employer from asking
a prospective employee if the employee has had an order of expunction entered
on his behalf.  The effect of the expunction order shall be to restore the
person, in the contemplation of the law, to the status he occupied before any
arrest or indictment for which convicted.  No person as to whom an expunction
order has been entered shall be held thereafter under any provision of law to
be guilty of perjury or to have otherwise given a false statement by reason of
his failure to recite or acknowledge such arrest, indictment or conviction in
response to any inquiry made of him for any purpose other than the purpose of
determining, in any subsequent proceedings under this section, whether the
person is a first offender.  A person as to whom an order has been entered,
upon request, shall be required to advise the court, in camera, of the previous
conviction and expunction in any legal proceeding wherein the person has been
called as a prospective juror.  The court shall thereafter and before the
selection of the jury advise the attorneys representing the parties of the
previous conviction and expunction.

(4)  Upon petition therefor,
a justice, county, circuit or municipal court shall expunge the record of any
case in which an arrest was made, the person arrested was released and the case
was dismissed or the charges were dropped or there was no disposition of such
case, or the person was found not guilty at trial.

(5)  No public official is
eligible for expunction under this section for any conviction related to his
official duties.

SECTION 2.
Section 97-3-54.1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

97-3-54.1.  (1)  (a)
A person who coerces, recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides or
obtains by any means, or attempts to coerce, recruit, entice, harbor, transport,
provide or obtain by any means, another person, intending or knowing that the
person will be subjected to forced labor or services, or who benefits, whether
financially or by receiving anything of value from participating in an
enterprise that he knows or reasonably should have known has engaged in such
acts, shall be guilty of the crime of human trafficking.

(b)  A person who
knowingly purchases the forced labor or services of a trafficked person or who
otherwise knowingly subjects, or attempts to subject, another person to forced
labor or services or who benefits, whether financially or by receiving anything
of value from participating in an enterprise that he knows or reasonably should
have known has engaged in such acts, shall be guilty of the crime of procuring
involuntary servitude.

(c)  A person who
knowingly subjects, or attempts to subject, or who recruits, entices, harbors,
transports, provides or obtains by any means, or attempts to recruit, entice,
harbor, transport, provide or obtain by any means, a minor, knowing that the
minor will engage in commercial sexual activity, sexually explicit performance,
or the production of sexually oriented material, or causes or attempts to cause
a minor to engage in commercial sexual activity, sexually explicit performance,
or the production of sexually oriented material, shall be guilty of procuring
sexual servitude of a minor and shall be punished by commitment to the custody
of the Department of Corrections for not less than twenty (20) years nor more
than life in prison, or by a fine of not less than Fifty Thousand Dollars
($50,000.00) nor more than Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00), or
both.  It is not a defense in a prosecution under this section that a minor
consented to engage in the commercial sexual activity, sexually explicit
performance, or the production of sexually oriented material, or that the
defendant reasonably believed that the minor was eighteen (18) years of age or
older.

(2)  If the victim is not a
minor, a person who is convicted of an offense set forth in subsection (1)(a)
or (b) of this section shall be committed to the custody of the Department of
Corrections for not less than two (2) years nor more than twenty (20) years, or
by a fine of not less than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) nor more than One
Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00), or both.  If the victim of the offense
is a minor, a person who is convicted of an offense set forth in subsection
(1)(a) or (b) of this section shall be committed to the custody of the
Department of Corrections for not less than twenty (20) years nor more than
life in prison, or by a fine of not less than Twenty Thousand Dollars
($20,000.00) nor more than One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00), or both.

(3)  An enterprise may be prosecuted
for an offense under this chapter if:

(a)  An agent of the
enterprise knowingly engages in conduct that constitutes an offense under this
chapter while acting within the scope of employment and for the benefit of the
entity.

(b)  An employee of the
enterprise engages in conduct that constitutes an offense under this chapter
and the commission of the offense was part of a pattern of illegal activity for
the benefit of the enterprise, which an agent of the enterprise either knew was
occurring or recklessly disregarded, and the agent failed to take effective
action to stop the illegal activity.

(c)  It is an
affirmative defense to a prosecution of an enterprise that the enterprise had
in place adequate procedures, including an effective complaint procedure,
designed to prevent persons associated with the enterprise from engaging in the
unlawful conduct and to promptly correct any violations of this chapter.

(d)  The court may
consider the severity of the enterprise's offense and order penalties,
including:  (i) a fine of not more than One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00);
(ii) disgorgement of profit; and (iii) debarment from government contracts.
Additionally, the court may order any of the relief provided in Section 97-3-54.7.

(4)  In addition to the
mandatory reporting provisions contained in Sections 43-21-353 and 97-5-51, any
person who has reasonable cause to suspect that a minor under the age of
eighteen (18) is a trafficked person shall immediately make a report of the
suspected child abuse or neglect to the Department of Child Protection Services
and to the Statewide Human Trafficking Coordinator.  The Department of Child
Protection Services or the Statewide Human Trafficking Coordinator, whichever
is applicable, shall then immediately notify the law enforcement agency in the
jurisdiction where the suspected child abuse, neglect or trafficking occurred
as required in Section 43-21-353, and the department that received the report
shall also commence an initial investigation into the suspected abuse or
neglect as required in Section 43-21-353.  The department that received such
report shall provide an annual report to the Speaker of the Mississippi House
of Representatives, the Lieutenant Governor, the Chairpersons of the House and
Senate Judiciary Committees that includes the number of reports received, the
number of cases screened in or out, the number of cases in which care and
services were provided as a result of the report, and the type of care and
services that were provided.  A minor who has been identified as a victim of
trafficking shall not be criminally liable for criminal activity in
violation of this section, a misdemeanor or a felony offense (except a
violation of Section 63-11-30) not classified as a crime of violence under
Section 97-3-2 if the offense:

(a)  Occurred during
the time period in which the victim was being trafficked; and

(b)  Occurred as a
direct result of the victim's trafficking.

(5)  It is an affirmative
defense in a prosecution under this act that the defendant:

(a)  Is a victim; and

(b)  Committed the
offense under a reasonable apprehension created by a person that, if the
defendant did not commit the act, the person would inflict serious harm on the
defendant, a member of the defendant's family, or a close associate.

SECTION 3.
Section 97-3-54.6, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

97-3-54.6.  (1)  Any circuit
court may, after making due provision for the rights of trafficked persons,
enjoin violations of the provisions of this act by issuing appropriate orders
and judgments, including, but not limited to:

(a)  Ordering any
defendant to divest himself of any interest in any enterprise, including real
property.

(b)  Imposing
reasonable restrictions upon the future activities or investments of any
defendant, including, but not limited to, prohibiting any defendant from
engaging in the same type of endeavor as the enterprise in which he was engaged
in violation of the provisions of this act.

(c)  Ordering the
dissolution or reorganization of any enterprise.

(d)  Ordering the
suspension or revocation of a license or permit granted to any enterprise by
any agency of the state.

(e)  Ordering the
forfeiture of the charter of a corporation organized under the laws of the
state, or the revocation of a certificate authorizing a foreign corporation to
conduct business within the state, upon finding that the board of directors or
a managerial agent acting on behalf of the corporation in conducting the
affairs of the corporation, has authorized or engaged in conduct in violation
of this chapter and that, for the prevention of future criminal activity, the
public interest requires the charter of the corporation forfeited and the
corporation dissolved or the certificate revoked.

(2)  Notwithstanding any
provisions to the contrary in Section 99-37-1 et seq., the court shall order
restitution to the victim for any offense under this chapter.  The order of
restitution under this section shall direct the defendant to pay the victim,
through the appropriate court mechanism, the full amount of the victim's
pecuniary damages.  For the purposes of determining restitution, the term "victim"
means the individual harmed as a result of a crime under this chapter,
including, in the case of a victim who is under eighteen (18) years of age,
incompetent, incapacitated, or deceased, the legal guardian of the victim or a
representative of the victim's estate, or another family member, or any other
person appointed as suitable by the court, but in no event shall the defendant
be named as such a representative or guardian.  The court may order restitution
even if the victim is absent from the jurisdiction or unavailable.

(3)  Any person who is
injured by reason of any violation of the provisions of this chapter shall have
a cause of action against any person or enterprise convicted of engaging in
activity in violation of this chapter for threefold the actual damages
sustained and, when appropriate, punitive damages.  The person shall also
recover attorney's fees in the trial and appellate courts and reasonable costs
of investigation and litigation.

(4)  The application of one
(1) civil remedy under any provision of this act shall not preclude the
application of any other remedy, civil or criminal, under this act or any other
provision of law.  Civil remedies under this act are supplemental.

(5)  At any time after a
conviction or adjudication of delinquency under this act, the court in
which the conviction or adjudication of delinquency was entered may,
upon appropriate motion, vacate the conviction or adjudication of
delinquency if the court finds the defendant's participation in the offense
was the result of being a victim.  Official documentation from a federal, state
or local government agency as to the defendant's status as a victim at the time
of the offense creates a presumption that the defendant's participation in the
offense was a result of being a victim, but official documentation is not
required to grant a motion under this subsection.

(6)  At any time after a
conviction or adjudication of delinquency of a misdemeanor or a felony offense
not classified as a crime of violence under Section 97-3-2, the court in which
the conviction or adjudication of delinquency was entered may, upon appropriate
motion, expunge the conviction or adjudication of delinquency if the court
finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant's participation in
the offense occurred during the time period in which the victim was being
trafficked and was the direct result of the victim's trafficking.  Official
documentation from a federal, state or local government agency as to the
defendant's status as a victim at the time of the offense creates a presumption
that the defendant's participation in the offense was a result of being a
victim, but official documentation is not required to grant a motion under this
subsection.

(7)  (a)  Notwithstanding
Section 97-3-54.1(5), it is an affirmative defense to a prosecution for any
misdemeanor and felony offense (except a violation of Section 63-11-30) not
classified as a crime of violence in Section 97-3-2 if at the time a person
engaged in the conduct charged to constitute the offense the person:

(i)  Was a
trafficked person as defined in Section 97-3-54.4(q); and

(ii)  Engaged in
the offense as a direct result of his or her status as a victim.

(b)  Neither the
failure to raise this affirmative defense nor the court's finding on the
affirmative defense shall have any effect on the petitioner's ability to file
for an expungement under subsection (6) of this section.

( * * *68)  In a prosecution or civil action
for damages for an offense under this act in which there is evidence that the
alleged victim was subjected to sexual servitude, reputation or opinion
evidence of past sexual behavior of the alleged victim is not admissible,
unless admitted in accordance with the Mississippi Rules of Evidence.

( * * *79)  In any investigation or prosecution
for an offense under this act, the responsible law enforcement agency or
prosecutor's office are required to take all reasonable efforts to keep the
identity of the victim and the victim's family confidential by ensuring that
the names and identifying information of those individuals are not disclosed to
the public.

SECTION 4.
This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2026.