Clean Slate clears legislature
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Queens Assemblymember Catalina Cruz’s Clean Slate bill was passed by the State Senate and Assembly on Friday. AP file photo by Hans Pennink
By Jacob Kaye
The state legislature passed a major piece of criminal justice reform legislation that would allow tens of thousands of formerly convicted New Yorkers to clear their name and get a fresh start, if signed into law by the governor.
After years of attempting to pass the Clean Slate Act, the State Senate and Assembly pushed the criminal justice legislation through during the final moments of this year’s legislative session last week.
The bill, which was sponsored in the Assembly by Queens lawmaker Catalina Cruz, proved controversial in its final moments – and may not ultimately get the support of the governor – but ultimately passed with broad support from Democrats, as well as a coalition made up of business leaders, criminal justice groups, defense attorneys, prosecutors and others.
While a majority of Queens lawmakers voted in support of the bill, several, including Assemblymembers Edward Braunstein and Stacey Pheffer Amato, did not.
The final version of the bill to pass differed from the initial proposal. But the fundamental function of the bill remains the same – after a set period of time, formerly convicted New Yorkers will have their records sealed, potentially opening new doors for employment, housing and education, the bill’s supporters say.
“There are millions of people across the state who have served their sentences, completed parole and are now ready to move on with their lives,” Cruz, who stood on the floor of the Assembly defending the bill for hours on Friday, said in a statement.
“I am proud to have sponsored this legislation that gives them the opportunity to start a new chapter,” she added. “Who can argue against giving someone a second chance when they’ve already paid their dues to society?”
The Clean Slate Act allows for the automatic sealing of misdemeanor convictions at least three years after a person’s release from incarceration or the start of their sentence if their sentence did not include incarceration, and of felony convictions at least eight years after a person’s release.
Only those New Yorkers who do not have current criminal charges pending against them, are currently under probation or parole and have not been convicted of a Class A felony – which comes with a maximum life imprisonment sentence – or a conviction that requires them to register as a sex offender, will be eligible for conviction sealing under the bill.
The legislation was first introduced in 2019, 2021, and again in 2022, falling short of passage each year.
But each year, support for the bill seemed to grow. In the past year, the Clean Slate Act has picked up support from several of the country’s largest financial firms, the New York City Bar Association, the city’s district attorneys, a wide array of nonprofit organizations and more and more legislative sponsors.
But it wasn’t without its detractors.
On Friday, a number of Republican lawmakers expressed their dismay over the legislation, saying that they were concerned that the bill supports “criminals” over “victims.”
“There is no clean slate for our victims, but our criminals? Sure,” Rockland County Assemblymember John McGowan said from the floor of the legislature on Friday. “Time goes by, don't do it again, and we're going to seal your record. What message are we sending in this state? It's the wrong message, is the answer.”
It’s also unclear whether or not the governor will sign the bill into law. In pervious years, the bill has been held up because of Hochul’s reported lack of support.
On Wednesday, Hochul had still yet to come around to the bill, despite changes made to the bill that would increase the amount of time a person convicted of a felony would have to wait to seal their record from seven to eight years.
“I did want to get a version of Clean Slate that actually deals with the efforts to make sure that people have a second chance – I think that's going to help with recidivism,” the governor said when asked what she’d like to see done before the end of the legislative session. “But we also have to be smart about it and find out – are there opportunities to find out if there iis a record in another state, for example? And has someone else been convicted of a crime related to sexual assault or something dealing with children?”
“So, there's areas we wanted to fine tune,” she added.
The governor’s office provided the Eagle with the governor’s Wednesday remarks when asked about her support of the bill on Friday. The governor’s office did not provide additional comment when asked specifically about the bill’s passage on Friday.
One of the largest changes made to the bill to ensure its passage was the carve out of Class A felony convictions, which will not be sealed under the legislation.
The final version of the bill also allows law enforcement and prosecutors to access and unseal criminal records in a number of situations including; when prosecutors are pursuing a new criminal case, if it relates to the scope of a law enforcement investigation, if an entity is required under state or federal law to conduct a fingerprint-based background check and when a licensing officer is processing a firearm license application.
The bill will also not invalidate an active order of protection, requiring the destruction of DNA evidence or DNA collected as part of a conviction.
There are around 2.3 million New Yorkers who have been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony at some point in their life – a disproportionate number of those people are Black or Hispanic. It’s estimated that formerly incarcerated people lose an average of $484,400 in income over their lifetime as a result of their former convictions.
Advocates say formerly convicted New Yorkers are iced out of leases for housing and denied education opportunities and jobs because of their records, despite having already served their sentence.
Assemblymember Joann Simon called the discrimination, or the “perpetual punishment,” that follows a formerly convicted person “paper handcuffs” on Friday.
The bill’s supporters also argue that the legislation will boost the state’s economy and workforce by introducing more New Yorkers into the labor market. They also say the bill will aid public safety, by providing an incentive for New Yorkers to refrain from committing crimes after serving their sentence.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz issued her support of the bill in a statement on Friday.
“Our communities are safer when those with prior convictions, who have served their time and obeyed the law for many years thereafter, are allowed an opportunity to earn a paycheck and build a better future,” Katz said.
The Queens DA also said that she believes the carve outs in the legislation will not have a disparate effect on her office’s work, as a number of Republicans argued on the floor on Friday.
“While prosecutors and law enforcement will continue to have access to prior records so that we may do our jobs effectively, this law strikes the right balance between public safety and rehabilitation for those who choose a better path,” Katz said.
Should Hochul sign the bill into law, New York will become the 11th state in the country to have passed a Clean Slate measure.
