March 17, 2019, Katie Meyer - WHYY
If you want to get a conviction scrubbed in Pennsylvania, you had better have at least $63 set aside. Eight bucks to download the application. $20 for a criminal background check, another $10 for a driving record, and then a $25 processing fee.
At least, that was the case until now.
The commonwealth’s Board of Pardons has voted unanimously to get rid of all application fees, starting March 18.
Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, who is in his first few months as board chair, said he thinks they’re just too burdensome.
“The amount of money isn’t meaningful to the commonwealth,” Fetterman said. “It would just create a barrier where people would have to chase down a money order for $15 here, or this, or that — it just doesn’t make any sense.”
Getting rid of the fees is the first in what Fetterman said is a long list of changes he plans to make to the Pardons Board.