The proposal of New York’s new “Clean Slate” bill aims to create a two-step process to automatically seal and eventually expunge past convictions and make it easier for those who served time to find work and housing opportunities. Convictions would be automatically sealed one year after sentencing on the individual’s last misdemeanor conviction and three years after sentencing for felonies, as long as someone is off probation and parole, is not facing any pending criminal charges, and is not on the sex offender registry. These would then not show up in most background checks for employment and housing and would be inaccessible for the police department. They would, however, still be available for courts and prosecution purposes, as well as agencies statutorily mandated to fingerprint people for government-regulated jobs, licensing and clearances.
