Oregon Expungement Laws: How to Set Aside a Conviction Under ORS 137.225

Oregon does not use the word "expungement" in its statutes. Instead, ORS 137.225 authorizes a court to set aside a conviction or arrest record, and Senate Bill 397 (effective January 1, 2022) made that relief available to far more Oregonians than ever before.

Information last verified on May 29, 2026. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed attorney.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Oregon state law only. For a comparison of all fifty states, see Expungement Laws by State.

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What "Set Aside" Means in Oregon

Oregon's set-aside statute, ORS 137.225, allows a person who was convicted of an eligible offense to petition the circuit court to seal the record. When a court grants the motion, the individual "shall be deemed not to have been previously convicted" for most purposes under Oregon law. Official records of the arrest, charge, and conviction are sealed, and the person may legally answer "no" to most background-check questions asking about prior convictions.

The practical effect is significant. Employers conducting standard background checks will no longer see the conviction. However, a set-aside is not a complete erasure. Law enforcement agencies retain access to sealed records, and certain licensing boards, federal agencies, and immigration authorities may still consider the underlying conduct. Oregon courts also consistently hold that a set-aside does not restore firearms rights; a separate legal process is required for that relief under federal and state law.

The Oregon State Police (OSP) processes the required criminal record check as part of every set-aside petition. OSP charges a $33 fee payable to the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) unit, and ORS 137.225(2)(d) provides that where the department has to run only one criminal record check, it may charge only one fee regardless of how many counties the person is filing a motion in. Fingerprints on an FBI FD-258 card must accompany that payment. The court filing fee itself was eliminated by SB 397, saving petitioners at least $281 per case.

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How SB 397 Changed Oregon's Set-Aside Law

Senate Bill 397 was signed into law during the 2021 Oregon Legislative Assembly session and took effect January 1, 2022. It represented the most significant reform to ORS 137.225 in decades.

Waiting period reductions. Before SB 397, many felony convictions carried 10- to 20-year waiting periods. The revised statute reduced those timelines sharply. Non-person Class B felony convictions are now eligible after seven years, down from twenty. Class C felonies carry a five-year wait. Class A misdemeanors require three years, and Class B or C misdemeanors, violations, and most contempt findings are eligible after just one year. Each period runs from the later of the conviction date or the date of release from imprisonment.

Filing fee eliminated. Under the amended ORS 137.225, a petitioner is "not required to pay the filing fee established under ORS 21.135." The OSP background-check fee remains, but the court filing fee is gone.

Drug offense eligibility expanded. The most far-reaching change involved controlled substance offenses. Before SB 397, conviction for manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance classified as a Class B felony could not be set aside for twenty years. SB 397 brought those offenses under the standard seven-year Class B felony waiting period, as long as they are non-person offenses.

Prior conviction disqualification narrowed. SB 397 also modified the rules around prior convictions. A petitioner must have no new convictions (excluding motor vehicle violations) during the applicable waiting period. The look-back rules were clarified to apply only to conviction-related motions, not to motions to set aside arrests or dismissed charges.

Standard at hearing. A court may deny a set-aside petition only upon written findings, by clear and convincing evidence, that the person's circumstances and behavior create a risk to public safety. Absent a timely objection from the prosecuting attorney, the court must grant the motion without a hearing.

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Eligible Offenses and Waiting Periods

Under ORS 137.225, the following conviction classes are eligible for set aside, subject to the waiting periods shown:

• Class B/C misdemeanors, violations, and most contempt findings: 1 year from conviction or finding, or release
• Class A misdemeanors: 3 years from conviction or release
• Class C felonies, and contempt findings for violating an order related to abuse or a person crime: 5 years from conviction or finding, or release
• Class B felonies (non-person, non-ORS 166.429): 7 years from conviction or release

To qualify, the petitioner must have fully completed the sentence, including any probation, parole, or post-prison supervision, as well as all restitution. A petitioner who still has pending criminal charges, or who incurred a new conviction (excluding motor vehicle violations) within the applicable waiting period, is not eligible until those bars are cleared.

For arrests where no accusatory instrument was filed, the motion may be filed at any time after 60 days from the date the prosecuting attorney indicates the state has elected not to proceed. For charges that were dismissed or resulted in acquittal, the motion may be filed at any time after the court action. ORS 137.225(8) carves two records out of that arrest-and-dismissal track: a DUII arrest or citation dismissed because the person successfully completed a diversion agreement under ORS 813.200, and the dismissal of a citation for a traffic violation.

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Excluded Offenses: What Cannot Be Set Aside

ORS 137.225 bars set-aside relief outright for several categories of convictions. Read these as conviction-level bars: they run against subsection (1)(a), the conviction pathway, and they do not by themselves reach the separate pathways for arrests, citations, and charges that ended without a conviction.

Traffic-offense convictions, including DUII. Under ORS 137.225(7)(a)(A), a conviction for any state or municipal traffic offense is ineligible, and that includes driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII) under ORS 813.010. Because the bar is written against convictions, a DUII arrest, citation or charge that ended in acquittal or in a dismissal can still be set aside under ORS 137.225(1)(c) or (1)(d). Two exceptions sit in ORS 137.225(8): a DUII charge dismissed because the person completed a diversion agreement under ORS 813.200, and the dismissal of a citation for a traffic violation.

Class A felonies. Class A felonies are categorically ineligible, because ORS 137.225(5) never lists them among the convictions the conviction pathway applies to. The only historical exception involved certain marijuana-related Class A offenses, which are addressed through the separate ORS 137.226 marijuana set-aside process.

Person felonies, but only at the Class B level. This is the most commonly misstated part of the statute. ORS 137.225(5)(a) makes a Class B felony eligible "except for a violation of ORS 166.429 or any crime classified as a person felony as defined in the rules of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission." That carve-out sits inside the Class B felony paragraph and does not carry over to the next one. ORS 137.225(5)(b) separately makes "any misdemeanor, Class C felony or felony punishable as a misdemeanor pursuant to ORS 161.705" eligible, with no person-offense exclusion at all. So a person misdemeanor, including a person Class A misdemeanor, and a person Class C felony remain eligible on the ordinary waiting periods, limited only by the specific offenses listed below.

Most sex crimes. ORS 137.225(6)(f) excludes any sex crime, with two narrow exceptions: a crime listed in ORS 163A.140(1)(a) where the person has been relieved of the duty to report as a sex offender by a court order under ORS 163A.145 or 163A.150, and a Class C felony sex crime that satisfies the statute's age-gap criteria, including that the person was under 16 at the time of the offense and the victim was at least 12.

Serious violent crimes. Murder and aggravated murder are ineligible, and manslaughter convictions are barred as well, either as Class A felonies or as Class B person felonies. Criminally negligent homicide under ORS 163.145 is excluded by ORS 137.225(6)(d) when that offense was punishable as a Class C felony.

Child abuse and elder abuse. ORS 137.225(6) excludes criminal mistreatment in the second degree (ORS 163.200) and in the first degree (ORS 163.205) where the victim was 65 or older, first-degree criminal mistreatment that constitutes child abuse as defined in ORS 419B.005, and endangering the welfare of a minor under ORS 163.575(1)(a) where the offense constitutes child abuse.

Assault in the third degree under ORS 163.165(1)(h). ORS 137.225(6)(e) names this one subsection of the third-degree assault statute specifically, and a conviction under it cannot be set aside.

Firearms violations. A Class B felony conviction for using a firearm during a felony under ORS 166.429 is excluded.

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Marijuana Conviction Set-Asides Under ORS 137.226

Oregon created a streamlined set-aside track specifically for marijuana convictions under ORS 137.226, with two distinct pathways. Under subsection (1), a petitioner who was under 21 years of age at the time of conviction may file for set-aside of a marijuana possession, delivery, or manufacture conviction after a one-year wait from the date judgment was entered, provided the defendant has no other convictions and has fully complied with the sentence. Under subsection (2), a petitioner convicted for marijuana conduct that occurred before April 21, 2017 may file a motion through the standard ORS 137.225 process, with the court treating the offense as if it were classified under the more lenient marijuana law that took effect that date, or as a Class C misdemeanor if the conduct is no longer a crime.

Subsection (2) motions follow the same filing requirements as any other ORS 137.225 motion, including fingerprints and an OSP background check, though SB 397 eliminated the court filing fee for all set-asides, including this one. Subsection (1) motions still carry the fingerprint and OSP record-check requirements; the statute's only special terms are the one-year wait and the under-21 eligibility threshold.

In November 2022, Governor Kate Brown's pardon order covered approximately 47,144 marijuana possession convictions, providing automatic record sealing for those cases. Oregon's current Governor, Tina Kotek, had not issued additional pardons as of the date this article was verified.

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How to File a Motion to Set Aside in Oregon

The Oregon Judicial Department provides statewide forms and instructions for adult set-aside petitions at courts.oregon.gov. The general process proceeds as follows:

1. Confirm eligibility under ORS 137.225 by reviewing the offense class, conviction date, sentence completion, and exclusion list.
2. Obtain the statewide set-aside packet from the Oregon Judicial Department's Forms Center. The packet includes the motion, order form, and OSP request form.
3. Send three items to the OSP CJIS Unit: a completed FBI FD-258 fingerprint card, the OSP Set Aside Request form, and a $33 check or money order payable to Oregon State Police. OSP returns the background check results to the prosecuting attorney.
4. File the motion and proposed order with the circuit court in the county where the conviction was entered. Serve a copy on the district attorney's office for each county included in the petition.
5. Under ORS 137.225(2)(a), the prosecuting attorney has 120 days from the date the motion was filed to notify the court and the petitioner of an objection. Registered victims also receive notice. If no objection is timely filed, the court typically enters the set-aside order without a hearing.
6. After the order is signed, the court sends certified copies to OSP, the Oregon Department of Justice, the arresting agency, and any other agencies that maintain records of the conviction.

The process typically runs several months from filing to final order, since the prosecutor's objection window alone is 120 days before court scheduling is added on top of it.

No attorney is required, but the Oregon State Bar's Lawyer Referral Service (503-684-3763) can connect petitioners with counsel experienced in post-conviction relief.

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about Oregon's set-aside process under ORS 137.225 as of May 29, 2026. Laws change, individual circumstances vary, and this article does not constitute legal advice. Consult a licensed Oregon attorney before filing any petition for post-conviction relief.

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Related Articles

• Expungement Laws by State
• DUI Expungement by State: Which States Allow It
• How to Check If Your Record Has Been Expunged

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RecordingLaw.com provides legal information, not legal advice. Laws change frequently. Verify current Oregon statutes at oregonlegislature.gov or consult a licensed Oregon attorney.

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