PER CURIAM.
liWe granted the state’s application to review the decision of the First Circuit affirming the district court’s order of ex-pungement entered in respondent’s case following the court’s set aside of his misdemeanor conviction and sentence for domestic abuse battery with child endangerment in violation of La.R.S.14:35.3(I), and dismissal of the prosecution under La.C.Cr.P. art. 894. The district court entered the order, and the court of appeal affirmed, notwithstanding La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5)(b), which provides that “[n]o person shall be entitled to an expungement if the misdemeanor conviction arose from circumstances involving a sexual act or act of domestic violence.” For reasons that follow, we reverse the decision of the court of appeal and vacate the expungement order under the law as it currently exists.
In September 2006, the state charged respondent with domestic abuse battery involving an incident with his wife that occurred on July 19, 2006 in the presence of their minor child. A bench trial took place on April 4, 2007, and the court found respondent guilty as charged. The court sentenced him to six months imprisonment, suspended all but 60 days of that term, directed home incarceration for the executory portion of the sentence, and imposed one year of active probation 12with a variety of special conditions. The trial court terminated the probation as successfully completed on May 19, 2010. Thereafter, defendant filed a motion to reconsider sentence in which he requested that the court set aside his conviction and dismiss the prosecution under La.C.Cr.P. art. 894. The court granted the motion over the state’s objection on May 18, 2011. Respondent then filed an Expungement Form on July 28, 2011, seeking to expunge his arrest and conviction record for domestic abuse battery with child endangerment. The district court granted the motion on August 23, 2011 and directed counsel to prepare the order of expungement. Two such orders appear in the record. The first, dated September 5, 2012, and apparently stamped with the judge’s signature, directs the named parties to “expunge any and all public records of the arrest and disposition ... the date of arrest being on or about July 19, 2006, and the disposition of these charges namely, DOMESTIC ABUSE BATTERY WITH CHILD ENDANGERMENT (MISDEMEANOR).” [364]*364The second, dated September 17, 2012, drafted by counsel and signed by the judge, directs the named parties to expunge only the record of respondent’s arrest on July 19, 2006.
The state appealed to the First Circuit, arguing that the district court had erred as an initial matter by granting respondent’s motion to reconsider sentence after he finished serving it and setting aside his conviction, and then in ordering expungement of the records relating to the prosecution in apparent complete disregard of La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5)(b). In a split-panel decision, the First Circuit declined to revisit the district court’s judgment granting respondent’s motion to reconsider sentence and affirmed the court’s expungement order. State v. Cardenas, 13-0509 (La.App. 1 Cir. 11/26/18) (unpub’d).1 The majority conceded |3at the outset that Louisiana’s expungement law is convoluted and confusing. Cardenas, 13-0509 at 7 (“ ‘Our observation that the clarity of these laws, as amended, leaves much to be desired.’ ”) (quoting State v. Savoie, 92-1586, p. 2 (La.5/23/94), 637 So.2d 408, 409). The majority nevertheless divided expungement of misdemeanor arrest and/or conviction records into three general categories: (1) R.S. 44:9(E)(3)(a) applies to the expungement or destruction of conviction records [365]*365in misdemeanor prosecutions that are dismissed pursuant to La.C.Cr.P. art. 894(B); (2) R.S. 44:9(A)(l)(b) applies to the ex-pungement of arrest records when a misdemeanor prosecution has been instituted “and such proceedings have been finally disposed of by dismissal, sustaining of a motion to quash, or acquittal;” and (3) R.S. 44:9(A)(5) governs expungement of arrest records in cases in which the movant has been convicted of a misdemeanor, “if five or more years [have] Relapsed between the date of the motion and the successful completion of any sentence, deferred adjudication, or period of probation or parole.” Cardenas, 13-0509 at 10.2
For the court of appeal majority, the rule of statutory interpretation that the specific governs over the general, id. at 9 (citing Corbello v. Sutton, 446 So.2d 301 (La.1984)), meant that respondent’s case, in which he “sought expungement of his arrest record”, id. at 6, fell in either the first or second categories to the exclusion of the third category because “[t]he present case [did] not involve a situation in which the defendant has waited five years since the serving of his sentence or probation to seek expungement.” Cardenas, 13-0509 at 11. To this extent, R.S. 44:9(A)(l)(b) and (E)(3)(a) were “more directly applicable to the present situation and [they] have no limitation on domestic violence cases being ineligible for expungement.” Id. The upshot for the majority was that, given the remedial purposes of the law, State v. Boniface, 369 So.2d 115, 116 (La.1979) (“R.S. 44:9 was designed to protect individuals from future harassment and embarrassment by virtue of a criminal record.... Remedial statutes are liberally construed to suppress the evil and to advance the remedy.”) (citation and footnote omitted), “the trial court correctly granted defendant’s expungement of his arrest record pursuant to La.R.S. 44:9(A)(1).” Cardenas, 13-0509 at 11. The premise for lathe conclusion is that a set aside of a conviction and dismissal of the prosecution which “shall have the same effect as an acquittal” as a matter of La.C.Cr.P. art. 894(B)(2), is an acquittal for purposes of La.R.S. 44:9(A)(l)(b) governing expungement of arrest records in cases in which there has been a “dismissal, sustaining of a motion to quash, or acquittal.”
Judge Guidry dissented. In his view, the majority had the case backwards when discussing its preference for the specific over the general. The general provision for expunging misdemeanor arrest records appears in La.R.S. 44:9(A)(l)(a), when [366]*366prosecution is not instituted, or (A)(1)(b) when prosecution has been instituted but does not result in a conviction. The general provision for expunging conviction records in misdemeanor cases when there has been a conviction subsequently set aside under La.C.Cr.P. art. 894 is La.R.S. 44:9(E)(3)(a). On the other hand, “La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5)(a) relates specifically to obtaining expungement of an arrest record after a conviction of a misdemeanor and allows for expungement ‘if five or more years have elapsed between the date of the motion and the successful completion of any sentence, deferred adjudication, or period of probation or parole.’ ” Id. at 2 (Guidry, J., dissenting). Judge Guidry reasoned that the specific provision for expunging arrest records when a conviction has been entered is therefore La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5)(a), not (A)(1)(a) or (b), as the majority concluded, but under (A)(5)(b), “no person shall be entitled to an expungement if the misdemeanor conviction arose from circumstances involving a sexual act or act of domestic violence.” Id. Thus, Judge Gui-dry concluded that respondent was “not entitled to seek expungement of his arrest record.” Id.
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PER CURIAM.
liWe granted the state’s application to review the decision of the First Circuit affirming the district court’s order of ex-pungement entered in respondent’s case following the court’s set aside of his misdemeanor conviction and sentence for domestic abuse battery with child endangerment in violation of La.R.S.14:35.3(I), and dismissal of the prosecution under La.C.Cr.P. art. 894. The district court entered the order, and the court of appeal affirmed, notwithstanding La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5)(b), which provides that “[n]o person shall be entitled to an expungement if the misdemeanor conviction arose from circumstances involving a sexual act or act of domestic violence.” For reasons that follow, we reverse the decision of the court of appeal and vacate the expungement order under the law as it currently exists.
In September 2006, the state charged respondent with domestic abuse battery involving an incident with his wife that occurred on July 19, 2006 in the presence of their minor child. A bench trial took place on April 4, 2007, and the court found respondent guilty as charged. The court sentenced him to six months imprisonment, suspended all but 60 days of that term, directed home incarceration for the executory portion of the sentence, and imposed one year of active probation 12with a variety of special conditions. The trial court terminated the probation as successfully completed on May 19, 2010. Thereafter, defendant filed a motion to reconsider sentence in which he requested that the court set aside his conviction and dismiss the prosecution under La.C.Cr.P. art. 894. The court granted the motion over the state’s objection on May 18, 2011. Respondent then filed an Expungement Form on July 28, 2011, seeking to expunge his arrest and conviction record for domestic abuse battery with child endangerment. The district court granted the motion on August 23, 2011 and directed counsel to prepare the order of expungement. Two such orders appear in the record. The first, dated September 5, 2012, and apparently stamped with the judge’s signature, directs the named parties to “expunge any and all public records of the arrest and disposition ... the date of arrest being on or about July 19, 2006, and the disposition of these charges namely, DOMESTIC ABUSE BATTERY WITH CHILD ENDANGERMENT (MISDEMEANOR).” [364]*364The second, dated September 17, 2012, drafted by counsel and signed by the judge, directs the named parties to expunge only the record of respondent’s arrest on July 19, 2006.
The state appealed to the First Circuit, arguing that the district court had erred as an initial matter by granting respondent’s motion to reconsider sentence after he finished serving it and setting aside his conviction, and then in ordering expungement of the records relating to the prosecution in apparent complete disregard of La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5)(b). In a split-panel decision, the First Circuit declined to revisit the district court’s judgment granting respondent’s motion to reconsider sentence and affirmed the court’s expungement order. State v. Cardenas, 13-0509 (La.App. 1 Cir. 11/26/18) (unpub’d).1 The majority conceded |3at the outset that Louisiana’s expungement law is convoluted and confusing. Cardenas, 13-0509 at 7 (“ ‘Our observation that the clarity of these laws, as amended, leaves much to be desired.’ ”) (quoting State v. Savoie, 92-1586, p. 2 (La.5/23/94), 637 So.2d 408, 409). The majority nevertheless divided expungement of misdemeanor arrest and/or conviction records into three general categories: (1) R.S. 44:9(E)(3)(a) applies to the expungement or destruction of conviction records [365]*365in misdemeanor prosecutions that are dismissed pursuant to La.C.Cr.P. art. 894(B); (2) R.S. 44:9(A)(l)(b) applies to the ex-pungement of arrest records when a misdemeanor prosecution has been instituted “and such proceedings have been finally disposed of by dismissal, sustaining of a motion to quash, or acquittal;” and (3) R.S. 44:9(A)(5) governs expungement of arrest records in cases in which the movant has been convicted of a misdemeanor, “if five or more years [have] Relapsed between the date of the motion and the successful completion of any sentence, deferred adjudication, or period of probation or parole.” Cardenas, 13-0509 at 10.2
For the court of appeal majority, the rule of statutory interpretation that the specific governs over the general, id. at 9 (citing Corbello v. Sutton, 446 So.2d 301 (La.1984)), meant that respondent’s case, in which he “sought expungement of his arrest record”, id. at 6, fell in either the first or second categories to the exclusion of the third category because “[t]he present case [did] not involve a situation in which the defendant has waited five years since the serving of his sentence or probation to seek expungement.” Cardenas, 13-0509 at 11. To this extent, R.S. 44:9(A)(l)(b) and (E)(3)(a) were “more directly applicable to the present situation and [they] have no limitation on domestic violence cases being ineligible for expungement.” Id. The upshot for the majority was that, given the remedial purposes of the law, State v. Boniface, 369 So.2d 115, 116 (La.1979) (“R.S. 44:9 was designed to protect individuals from future harassment and embarrassment by virtue of a criminal record.... Remedial statutes are liberally construed to suppress the evil and to advance the remedy.”) (citation and footnote omitted), “the trial court correctly granted defendant’s expungement of his arrest record pursuant to La.R.S. 44:9(A)(1).” Cardenas, 13-0509 at 11. The premise for lathe conclusion is that a set aside of a conviction and dismissal of the prosecution which “shall have the same effect as an acquittal” as a matter of La.C.Cr.P. art. 894(B)(2), is an acquittal for purposes of La.R.S. 44:9(A)(l)(b) governing expungement of arrest records in cases in which there has been a “dismissal, sustaining of a motion to quash, or acquittal.”
Judge Guidry dissented. In his view, the majority had the case backwards when discussing its preference for the specific over the general. The general provision for expunging misdemeanor arrest records appears in La.R.S. 44:9(A)(l)(a), when [366]*366prosecution is not instituted, or (A)(1)(b) when prosecution has been instituted but does not result in a conviction. The general provision for expunging conviction records in misdemeanor cases when there has been a conviction subsequently set aside under La.C.Cr.P. art. 894 is La.R.S. 44:9(E)(3)(a). On the other hand, “La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5)(a) relates specifically to obtaining expungement of an arrest record after a conviction of a misdemeanor and allows for expungement ‘if five or more years have elapsed between the date of the motion and the successful completion of any sentence, deferred adjudication, or period of probation or parole.’ ” Id. at 2 (Guidry, J., dissenting). Judge Guidry reasoned that the specific provision for expunging arrest records when a conviction has been entered is therefore La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5)(a), not (A)(1)(a) or (b), as the majority concluded, but under (A)(5)(b), “no person shall be entitled to an expungement if the misdemeanor conviction arose from circumstances involving a sexual act or act of domestic violence.” Id. Thus, Judge Gui-dry concluded that respondent was “not entitled to seek expungement of his arrest record.” Id.
The majority and dissenting opinions in the First Circuit panel thus addressed the district court’s order of September 17, 2012 directing expungement of respondent’s record of arrest only, without regard to the earlier order dated September 5, 2012, directing expungement of both the arrest and conviction | (¡records. The ambiguity in the record with respect to the breadth of the district court’s order3 touches on yet another ambiguity in Louisiana’s expungement law adding to our prior expressions of dismay over its convoluted nature.4 The provisions of La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5) originated in 2010 La. Acts 609. The title to the act reads as follows: “To enact R.S. 44:9(A)(5) relative to the ex-pungement of certain criminal records; to authorize the expungement of certain misdemeanor conviction records under certain circumstances; to provide relative to the motion for expungement; and to provide for related matters.” (emphasis added). The title of an act “may be instructive in determining legislative intent.” Authement v. Shappert Engineering, 02-1631, p. 8 (La.2/25/03), 840 So.2d 1181, 1186; State v. Modere, 352 So.2d 666, 668 (La.l977)(same). But the text of R.S. 44:9(A)(5) says nothing about conviction records. It states in pertinent part:
(5)(a) Any person who has been convicted for the violation of a ... state statute which is classified as a misdemeanor may make a written motion to the district ... court in which the violation was prosecuted or to the district court located in the parish in which he was arrested, for expungement of the arrest record [367]*367if five or more years has elapsed between the date of the motion and the successful completion of any sentence, deferred adjudication, or period of probation or parole. Notwithstanding the provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure Article 892.1 or 894, or any other provision of law to the contrary regarding the set aside of a conviction or the dismissal of a prosecution, an expungement shall occur only once with respect to any person during a five-year period, except in the case of a misdemeanor offense of operating a vehicle while 17intoxicated which may occur only once with respect to any person during a ten-year period (emphasis added).
(b) No person shall be entitled to an expungement if the misdemeanor conviction arose from circumstances involving a sexual act or act of domestic violence.
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(d) If, after a contradictory hearing with the district attorney and the arresting law enforcement agency, the court finds that the mover is entitled to the relief sought for the above reasons, it shall order all law enforcement agencies to expunge but not destroy the record of the same in accordance with the provisions of this Paragraph....
Before the enactment of La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5), the only provision authorizing expungement of conviction records was La. R.S. 44:9(E)(3)(a), enacted by 1999 La. Acts 1111, which generally authorizes the expungement or destruction of conviction records in misdemeanor cases in which the conviction has been set aside under La. C.Cr.P. art. 894. The legislature did not provide a definition of what it meant by the term “conviction record,” but it did provide that “[u]pon the entry of such an order of expungement, all rights which were lost or suspended by virtue of the conviction shall be restored to the person against whom the conviction has been entered, and such person shall be treated in all respects as not having been arrested or convicted unless otherwise provided in this Section or otherwise provided in the Code of Criminal Procedure Articles 893 or 894.” La.R.S. 44:9(E)(3)(b) (former (E)(3)) (emphasis added). Expungement of the conviction record as a matter of (E)(3)(a) seemingly encompasses the record of arrest as well, just as the district court’s order dated September 5, 2012, provided. See also La.R.S. 44:9(1) (“Except for those entities listed in Subsection G of this Section, no person whose record of arrest and conviction has been expunged pursuant to the provisions of this Section shall be required to disclose that he was arrested or convicted for the subject offense or that the record of the arrest and conviction has been expunged unless otherwise provided in this Section.”) (emphasis added).
|sThe provisions of La.R.S. 44:9(E)(3)(a) did not, however, address extant misdemeanor convictions and House Representative Gallot introduced 2010 H.B. 927, which then became 2010 La. Acts 609, to remedy that situation. In his remarks to the House Committee on the Administration of Justice on May 5, 2010, and to the Senate Judiciary Committee B on June 8, 2010, Representative Gallot explained that the bill would offer an alternative route to expungement for those persons who, for one reason or another, did not have the advantage of the set-aside provided by La. C.Cr.P. art. 894(B) as the first step towards expungement under R.S. 44:9(E)(3)(a).5 As originally proposed in [368]*368House Bill 927, La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5) provided the basic rule that any person convicted of a misdemeanor offense may apply for an expungement of the record of arrest following the expiration of five years from the finality of conviction and sentence. Subsequent amendments in the Senate added (A)(5)(b), excluding crimes involving sexual acts or acts of domestic violence, and in the House, inserted the language in (A)(5)(a) that “Notwithstanding the provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure Article 892.1 or 894, or any other provision of law to the contrary regarding the set aside of a conviction or the dismissal of a prosecution, an expungement shall occur only once with respect to any person during a five-year period except in the case of a misdemeanor offense of operating a vehicle while intoxicated which may occur only once with respect to any person during a ten-year period.” A virtually identical proviso appears in La.C.Cr.P. art. 894(B)(2), with respect to setting aside misdemeanor convictions and dismissing the prosecutions. The amendments thus narrowed the scope of Representative Gal-lot’s original bill by excluding specified classes of cases and sharply curtailing the availability of expungement in any given | afive-year period including those cases involving set-asides under La.C.Cr.P. art. 894.
Under current law, and at the time the district court issued the expungement orders) in respondent’s case, the latest expression of legislative will with regard to expungement of arrest and/or conviction records in misdemeanor cases is not La. R.S. 44:9(A), or La.R.S. 44:9(E)(3)(a), but La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5). McLane Southern, Inc. v. Bridges, 11-1141, p. 9 (La.1/24/12), 84 So.3d 479, 485 (“This Court has held that it is a fundamental rule of statutory construction that when two statutes deal with the same subject matter, if there is a conflict, the statute specifically directed to the matter at issue must prevail as an exception to the statute more general in character. Further, this Court has provided that the latest expression of legislative will is considered controlling and prior enactments in conflict are considered as tacitly repealed in the absence of an express repealing clause.”)(internal quotation marks and citation omitted). We need not in the present case resolve as a general matter any ambiguity in R.S. 44:9(A)(5) whether the legislature meant to address expungement of both misdemeanor conviction records (as in the title to the act) and arrest records (as in the text of the act). With regard to the specific crime of domestic abuse battery, the majority on the First Circuit panel failed to take into account the limiting language inserted by the House in (A)(5)(a). Under current law, a person may set aside a misdemeanor conviction and dismiss the prosecution once during a given five-year period of time as a matter of La.C.Cr.P. art. 894(B)(2). He may obtain an expungement in the case of a misdemeanor conviction once during the same five-year period of time as a matter of La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5)(a). A conviction set aside under La.C.Cr.P. art. 894(B)(2), otherwise subject to expungement under R.S. 44:9(E)(3)(a), counts as |inthe one conviction for purposes of La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5)(a). But within this five-year period marked out by the legislature, “[n]o person shall be entitled to an expungement if the misdemeanor conviction arose from circumstances involving a sexual act or act of domestic violence.” La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5)(b) (emphasis added).
[369]*369We therefore agree with Judge Guidry that at least in this instance, R.S. 44:9(A)(5), and specifically (A)(5)(b), as the latest expression of legislative will embodied in current law, superseded the earlier provisions of La.R.S. 44:9(A) and 44:9(E)(3)(a). We further find, consistent with the broad and unqualified language of La.R.S. 44:9(A)(5)(b), removing expungement as an alternative in cases involving sexual acts or acts of domestic violence, that the district court erred in the present case by ordering the expungement of respondent’s record to any extent, whether of arrest only or of arrest and conviction. Accordingly, the decision of the First Circuit is reversed and, out of an abundance of caution, both orders of expungement dated September 5, 2012, and September 17, 2012, are vacated in their entirety.
We note here that during the pendency of the state’s application in this Court, the legislature was considering 2014 House Bill 55, which proposed to repeal La. R.S.44:9 in its entirety and to enact Title XXXIV of the Code of Criminal Procedure to add Articles 971 through 995. That bill, passed by the legislature as 2014 La. Acts 145, was signed into law by the Governor on May 23, 2014, effective August 1, 2014. As now the latest expression of legislative will, La.C.Cr.P. art. 977 specifically provides for the expungement (but not destruction) of the record of arrest and conviction in misdemeanor cases if: (1) the conviction was set aside and the prosecution dismissed pursuant to La.C.Cr.P. art. 894(B); or (2) more than five years have elapsed since completion of sentence, deferred adjudication, or period or probation or parole. Further, La.C.Cr.P. art. 977(D)(1) provides that expungement of a record of arrest and conviction may occur only |nonce with respect to any person during a five-year period, “unless the person was sentenced pursuant to Code of Criminal Procedure Article 894(B).” But, “[n]o person shall be entitled to expungement of a record under ... the following circumstances ... (2) The misdemeanor conviction was for domestic abuse battery which was not dismissed pursuant to Code of Criminal Procedure Article 894(B).” La.C.Cr.P. art. 979(C)(2). We express no opinion here whether respondent may be entitled to expungement of his record of arrest and conviction for domestic abuse battery under this latest expression of legislative will.
DECISION OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT REVERSED; ORDERS OF EXPUNGEMENT VACATED.
HUGHES, J., dissents and would deny the application and affirm the decisions of the lower courts.