Can a DUI Be Expunged? By State

Expungement law is where states differ most sharply on DUI. Some allow a first conviction to be cleared after a wait, some allow it only where the charge was dismissed or completed a diversion programme, and some exclude impaired driving from every form of relief they offer. Several states that passed automatic Clean Slate sealing laws carved DUI straight back out of them.

The last column is the one that changes what the relief is worth. In most states the licensing agency keeps the DUI on the driver record whatever the court does with the criminal case, so it still reaches insurers and still counts as a prior offence. Each cell is the state's own rule, quoted on the state page.

Of the 50 verified jurisdictions, 31 allow a DUI conviction to be cleared, 14 only where the charge was dismissed or diverted, and 5 not at all. In 37 the driver record is kept regardless.

50 states verified; 1 pending verification.

DUI expungement by state
State	A DUI conviction	What the relief is called	Waiting period	How it is obtained	Driver record	Filing fee	Source	Verified
Alabama	Cannot be cleared	expungement	3 yrs	By petition only	Not addressed on the official pages read	$500	alea.gov	August 29
Alaska	Cannot be cleared	sealing of criminal justice information	—	By petition only	Not addressed on the official pages read	—	akleg.gov	August 29
Arizona	Can be cleared	setting aside the judgment of guilt	3 yrs	By petition only	Not cleared	$0	azleg.gov	August 29
Arkansas	Can be cleared, on conditions	sealing under the Comprehensive Criminal Record Sealing Act of 2013	5 yrs	By petition only	Not addressed on the official pages read	$50	arkleg.state.ar.us	August 29
California	Can be cleared, on conditions	petition for dismissal (Penal Code section 1203.4)	—	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	—	leginfo.legislature.ca.gov	August 29
Colorado	Can be cleared, on conditions	sealing of criminal conviction records	5 yrs	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	$65	content.leg.colorado.gov	August 29
Connecticut	Can be cleared, on conditions	erasure of criminal records	10 yrs	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	—	cga.ct.gov	August 29
Delaware	Can be cleared, on conditions	expungement	—	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	—	delcode.delaware.gov	August 29
District of Columbia	Can be cleared, on conditions	sealing of criminal records by motion	5 yrs	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not addressed on the official pages read	—	code.dccouncil.gov	August 29
Florida	Only if the charge was dismissed or diverted	court-ordered expunction	—	By petition only	Not cleared	$75	leg.state.fl.us	August 29
Georgia	Only if the charge was dismissed or diverted	record restriction	—	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not addressed on the official pages read	$25	legis.ga.gov	August 29
Hawaii	Only if the charge was dismissed or diverted	expungement order	—	By petition only	Not addressed on the official pages read	$35	ag.hawaii.gov	August 29
Idaho	Can be cleared, on conditions	shielding of records from disclosure	5 yrs	By petition only	Not addressed on the official pages read	—	legislature.idaho.gov	August 29
Illinois	Only if the charge was dismissed or diverted	expungement	—	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	—	ilga.gov	August 29
Indiana	Can be cleared, on conditions	expungement	5 yrs	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Partly cleared	—	iga.in.gov	August 29
Iowa	Only if the charge was dismissed or diverted	expungement	—	By petition only	Not cleared	—	legis.iowa.gov	August 29
Kansas	Can be cleared, on conditions	expungement	5 yrs	By petition only	Not cleared	$176	ksrevisor.gov	August 29
Kentucky	Can be cleared, on conditions	expungement	5 yrs	By petition only	Not cleared	$100	apps.legislature.ky.gov	August 29
Louisiana	Can be cleared, on conditions	expungement	5 yrs	By petition only	Not cleared	$550 maximum, plus a $50 court cost paid to the Office of Motor Vehicles in an operating-while-intoxicated case	legis.la.gov	August 29
Maine	Cannot be cleared	sealing of criminal history record information	—	By petition only	Not cleared	—	legislature.maine.gov	August 29
Maryland	Only if the charge was dismissed or diverted	expungement	15 yrs	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	$0	mgaleg.maryland.gov	August 29
Massachusetts	Can be cleared, on conditions	sealing of a criminal record	3 yrs	By petition only	Not cleared	—	malegislature.gov	August 29
Michigan	Can be cleared, on conditions	setting aside a conviction	5 yrs	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	$50	legislature.mi.gov	August 29
Minnesota	Can be cleared, on conditions	expungement of criminal records	2 yrs	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	$310	revisor.mn.gov	August 29
Mississippi	Can be cleared, on conditions	expunction	5 yrs	By petition only	Not cleared	—	billstatus.ls.state.ms.us	August 29
Missouri	Can be cleared, on conditions	expungement	10 yrs	By petition only	Partly cleared	—	revisor.mo.gov	August 29
Montana	Can be cleared, on conditions	misdemeanor expungement	5 yrs	By petition only	Not cleared	—	mca.legmt.gov	August 29
Nebraska	Can be cleared, on conditions	set aside	—	By petition only	Not cleared	—	nebraskalegislature.gov	August 29
Nevada	Can be cleared, on conditions	sealing of records	7 yrs	By petition only	Not cleared	—	leg.state.nv.us	August 29
New Hampshire	Can be cleared, on conditions	annulment of criminal records	10 yrs	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not addressed on the official pages read	—	gc.nh.gov	August 29
New Jersey	Cannot be cleared	expungement	—	By petition only	Not cleared	$0	lis.njleg.state.nj.us	August 29
New Mexico	Only if the charge was dismissed or diverted	expungement	1 yr	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	$132.00	nmcourts.gov	August 29
New York	Can be cleared, on conditions	Clean Slate automatic sealing	3 yrs	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	—	web.archive.org	August 29
North Carolina	Only if the charge was dismissed or diverted	expunction	—	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	$175.00	ncleg.gov	August 29
North Dakota	Can be cleared, on conditions	sealing a criminal record	3 yrs	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	—	ndlegis.gov	August 29
Ohio	Only if the charge was dismissed or diverted	sealing or expungement of the record of conviction	—	By petition only	Not cleared	$50 application fee, plus a local court fee of not more than $50	codes.ohio.gov	August 29
Oklahoma	Can be cleared, on conditions	expungement of records	5 yrs	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	$0 to expunge the court record; $150 processing fee to expunge the arrest record	oklegislature.gov	August 29
Oregon	Cannot be cleared	order setting aside conviction	—	By petition only	Not cleared	$0	oregonlegislature.gov	August 29
Pennsylvania	Can be cleared, on conditions	clean slate limited access	7 yrs	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	—	palegis.us	August 29
Rhode Island	Can be cleared, on conditions	expungement	5 yrs	By petition only	Not addressed on the official pages read	—	webserver.rilegislature.gov	August 29
South Carolina	Only if the charge was dismissed or diverted	expungement	—	By petition only	Not cleared	—	scstatehouse.gov	August 29
South Dakota	Only if the charge was dismissed or diverted	expungement	1 yr	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	a fee equal to the filing fee for a civil action, payable to the clerk of courts in the county where the motion is filed; the court may waive it for a person who establishes indigency	sdlegislature.gov	August 29
Texas	Can be cleared, on conditions	order of nondisclosure of criminal history record information	3 yrs	By petition only	Not cleared	—	tcss.legis.texas.gov	August 29
Utah	Can be cleared, on conditions	expungement	10 yrs	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not addressed on the official pages read	$65	le.utah.gov	August 29
Vermont	Can be cleared, on conditions	sealing of criminal history record	10 yrs	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not addressed on the official pages read	$90	legislature.vermont.gov	August 29
Virginia	Only if the charge was dismissed or diverted	expungement of police and court records	—	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	$0	law.lis.virginia.gov	August 29
Washington	Only if the charge was dismissed or diverted	vacating a record of conviction	—	By petition only	Not cleared	—	app.leg.wa.gov	August 29
West Virginia	Only if the charge was dismissed or diverted	expungement	1 yr	By petition only	Not cleared	$0	code.wvlegislature.gov	August 29
Wisconsin	Can be cleared, on conditions	expungement	—	Automatic for some records, by petition for others	Not cleared	—	docs.legis.wisconsin.gov	August 29
Wyoming	Can be cleared, on conditions	expungement	5 yrs	By petition only	Not cleared	$100	wyoleg.gov	August 29

Pending verification: Tennessee.