California Expungement Laws: What Actually Comes Off Your Record

The question behind most searches about California expungement law is short: can this come off my record.

California provides real relief for most convictions. A court order can turn a conviction into a dismissal, reduce a felony to a misdemeanor, or seal an arrest that produced no charge, and those orders change what a background check reports and what an employer may ask. What no order does for an adult conviction is delete it.

The statute everyone means never uses the word expungement. This guide covers which statute fits which situation, and what relief does not reach.

Does a Felony Ever Go Away in California?

Not on its own, and not with time. A California conviction has no expiration date. A felony from 1999 still sits on the state summary criminal history record kept by the Department of Justice, and the court file is still public.

Status changes only when a court or the Department of Justice acts. People asking to clear a record usually want one of four things:

• Dismissal, which sets aside the plea or verdict while the underlying record stays
• Reduction, which changes a felony to a misdemeanor going forward
• Sealing, which applies to arrests that produced no conviction
• Relief from one disability, such as a certificate of rehabilitation or a pardon

What a Dismissal Under Penal Code Section 1203.4 Changes

Penal Code section 1203.4 is the statute almost everyone means. The court lets you withdraw the plea, or sets aside the verdict, enters a plea of not guilty, and dismisses the accusation.

What moves is the disposition. The docket and the state record show a conviction set aside and a case dismissed rather than a live conviction. For most private employment you may answer that you were not convicted, and California law separately bars most employers from asking about it.

What does not move is the history. The arrest still appears, and the court file still exists under your name. The entry is updated, not deleted, and since January 1, 2023 the court may not disclose a conviction it has dismissed to anyone but you or a criminal justice agency, though whatever a records vendor gathered before that order is already out.

Who Is Eligible for Relief Under Section 1203.4

Section 1203.4 applies where the court granted probation, and the central requirement is that probation is over. Relief is mandatory if you fulfilled the conditions for the entire period or were discharged before the period ended. In any other case the court may still grant it in the interests of justice.

If you are still on probation, Penal Code section 1203.3 lets a court end it early, which makes you eligible the same day. Four things commonly block a petition:

• You are currently charged with an offense
• You are on probation in another case
• You are serving a sentence in another case
• The conviction is excluded by statute, including certain Vehicle Code offenses and the sex offenses against children listed in section 1203.4(b)

When Probation Was Never Part of the Sentence

Section 1203.4 assumes a grant of probation, and many sentences do not include one. Separate statutes cover those cases, and relief under the two felony statutes below is discretionary.

• Penal Code section 1203.4a: misdemeanors and infractions where no probation was granted, generally one year after judgment if the sentence was fully complied with
• Penal Code section 1203.41: felony terms served in county jail under section 1170(h) and, where the offense did not require sex offender registration, terms served in state prison, generally one year after a split sentence with mandatory supervision or two years after a straight term
• Penal Code section 1203.42: people sentenced before realignment took effect in October 2011 who would have qualified for a county jail term, generally two years after completing the sentence

Automatic Relief Under Penal Code Section 1203.425

Penal Code section 1203.425, created by AB 1076 in 2019 and expanded by SB 731 in 2022, has the Department of Justice review its own records on a schedule and grant relief to those that qualify. There is no petition, no hearing, and no notice to you. It reaches qualifying convictions where the sentence and any supervision were completed, and a companion statute, Penal Code section 851.93, does the same for qualifying arrests that produced no conviction. SB 731 extended it back to convictions dating to 1973, with review of that older set running from October 2024, and felony relief also requires four years free of a new felony conviction.

The limits matter. It excludes serious felonies listed in Penal Code section 1192.7(c), violent felonies listed in section 667.5(c), and offenses requiring registration under section 290. It updates the state summary record without sealing the court file, and while the court may no longer disclose a conviction granted relief, nothing recalls what a background check company already collected. It never reduces a felony to a misdemeanor.

Arrests That Did Not End in a Conviction

An arrest without a conviction is its own category, and it stays on your record until something removes it. Penal Code section 851.91 allows a petition to seal it: charges never filed and the limitations period run, a dismissal, an acquittal, or a completed diversion program. Sealing is a matter of right in most cases, and discretionary where the record shows a pattern of domestic violence, child abuse, or elder abuse.

Penal Code section 851.8 goes further and is harder to get. It asks the court to find you factually innocent, meaning no reasonable cause exists to believe you committed the offense, a higher bar than an acquittal. Records are sealed and destroyed after three years, and the petition generally must be filed within two years of the arrest or the charges.

Reducing a Felony to a Misdemeanor

For a felony, the more valuable order is often not a dismissal. A reduction changes the label rather than the disposition, and the label is what gatekeepers react to.

Penal Code section 17(b) applies to a wobbler, an offense chargeable as either a felony or a misdemeanor, and once granted it makes the offense a misdemeanor for all purposes. It is unavailable for a straight felony. Penal Code section 1170.18, from Proposition 47 in November 2014, covers specified theft and controlled substance felonies, generally where the property was worth $950 or less: petition for resentencing while serving the sentence, or apply for redesignation once it is complete. People with a prior listed in Penal Code section 667(e)(2)(C)(iv), or who must register under section 290, are excluded.

Reduction reaches what a dismissal cannot: it removes the felony designation that blocks a license or a rental application, a section 17(b) reduction can restore firearm rights for some offenses although a Proposition 47 redesignation expressly does not, and where the wobbler counted as a serious felony, it can no longer be charged as a strike.

Cannabis Convictions Under Proposition 64

Health and Safety Code section 11361.8, from Proposition 64 in November 2016, lets a person serving a sentence petition for recall or resentencing, and a person who finished one apply for redesignation, or for dismissal and sealing where the conduct is no longer a crime. AB 1793 then required the Department of Justice to identify eligible cases, so much of this relief was already granted.

Certificate of Rehabilitation and a Governor's Pardon

Penal Code section 4852.01 provides a certificate of rehabilitation, a court declaration of rehabilitation filed in the superior court of the county where you live.

The wait is long: five years of continuous California residency plus an additional period that varies with the offense, commonly seven to ten years after release, and certain offenses are excluded. A granted certificate operates as an application to the Governor for a full pardon. A full pardon restores firearm rights unless the person was ever convicted of a felony involving the use of a dangerous weapon, and a person convicted of two or more felonies needs a written recommendation from a majority of the California Supreme Court before the Governor may grant one.

What Record Relief Does Not Do

A dismissal under section 1203.4 and automatic relief under section 1203.425 leave the following untouched. This is where people are misled most often:

• Firearm rights. Section 1203.4 states that relief does not permit possession where the conviction bars it. A felony carries a lifetime bar, certain misdemeanors a ten year bar
• Immigration consequences. Federal law treats the conviction as a conviction despite a state dismissal, and Penal Code section 1473.7 is a separate motion
• Sex offender registration. Ending a duty to register takes a petition under Penal Code section 290.5
• Use as a prior. The conviction still counts in a later case, as a DUI prior or a strike
• Disclosure to government. You still disclose it for public office, for state or local licensure, and to contract with the California State Lottery
• Access by agencies. Prosecutors, courts, law enforcement, and specified licensing bodies see the full record

What an Employer Can Ask You About

Labor Code section 432.7 bars most employers from asking about or using an arrest that produced no conviction, participation in diversion, or a conviction judicially dismissed or sealed. Exceptions exist, including certain health care positions, peace officer applications, and roles where another law requires the question.

The California Fair Chance Act, Government Code section 12952, adds a layer for employers with five or more employees. Conviction history cannot be raised before a conditional offer, and to withdraw an offer the employer must assess whether the conviction directly relates to the job duties, give written notice identifying it, and allow at least five business days to respond. Separately, under the Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act, a background check may not report a conviction older than seven years.

The Process, the Timeline, and Where to Start

Pull your own record first, both the state summary criminal history record and the court file, since the two do not always agree. The petition goes to the court that entered the conviction, with proof that probation or the sentence was completed and financial obligations satisfied. The prosecuting agency may oppose, and a hearing is commonly set weeks or months out, with a further lag before the state record reflects the order.

In San Diego County that court is downtown or the Vista, El Cajon, or Chula Vista branch. The District Attorney responds on felonies and on misdemeanors outside the City of San Diego, the City Attorney on misdemeanors inside city limits.

Gather your case numbers and request your own record before choosing a statute. Marc S. Kohnen, of the Law Office of Marc S. Kohnen at 425 Tenth Avenue in downtown San Diego, has defended criminal cases in the county since 2008 and handles record relief petitions. He is available at (619) 398-2500. Every case is different and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Questions People Ask