New York Enacts Law Sealing Criminal Records to Boost Employment

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed legislation Thursday to automatically seal criminal records for most formerly incarcerated persons who have finished serving their sentences and have stayed out of trouble.

Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers could benefit from the law, according to a 2022 study by the Brennan Center for Justice, which found that previously convicted people lost up to $500,000 in lifetime wages because of discrimination over past convictions.

The Clean Slate Act bill (S. 7551) attracted support from a coalition of groups that include progressive activists and businesses like JPMorgan Chase & Co. Hochul has supported the proposal in theory while raising concerns about when prospective employers might need to access criminal records. It takes effect in one year.

“It’s important for employers who are experiencing a severe shortage of workers, but we also have to be smart about it,” she told reporters in June.

The measure is about “hope” for minority New Yorkers in particular who have faced difficulties finding jobs and reintegrating into society following their convictions, said state Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D), who sponsored the bill.

“If you are a New Yorker who has served their time, who has paid their debt, help is on the way,” said Myrie.

Eleven other states have already approved such laws, according to The Clean Slate Initiative, an advocacy group that supports such measures.

The US economy as a whole could gain as much as $87 billion in gross domestic product annually if all states adopted the legislation, according to a 2016 analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

The New York law would allow felony convictions to be sealed eight years after a person leaves prison for a felony conviction and three years after a misdemeanor. State lawmakers amended the bill in June to exempt murder and other serious offenses from the proposal in addition to sex crimes, which were ineligible in a previous version of the legislation.

Her approval could temper criticism from progressives that Hochul has moved too far toward the political center since being elected to a full term in 2022. She faced incessant criticism during the campaign from her opponent, former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R), for supposedly being too soft on crime.

“Governor Hochul, I know you’re going to probably take some heat over doing the right thing, but that’s what leadership is, and you have demonstrated that to us today,” said Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz (D), a progressive who sponsored the bill.

Hochul took a more aggressive approach to public safety following the election by backing changes to controversial limits on cash bail that Republicans blame for rising crime. She also angered progressive lawmakers during her failed effort to get Brooklyn appellate judge Hector LaSalle confirmed as chief judge of the state Court of Appeals.

Signing the clean slate bill, which supporters say could help thousands of people get work, into law could be one signal that Hochul will take a softer approach with the legislature’s Democratic supermajority in next year’s session.