Clean Slate Act goes into effect today

One year after it was signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, the Clean Slate Act goes into effect on Nov. 16. It automatically seals the criminal records of most people after a certain amount of time, so long as they did not reoffend. That means that past offenses wouldn’t show up in background checks when people apply for jobs or housing, nor would people need to disclose their records.

Under the newly effective law, people with past misdemeanors will have their records sealed three years after their release, so long as they stay out of trouble. For people convicted of felonies, the timeline is eight years. It doesn’t apply to sex crimes and most Class A felonies, with charges related to the sale or possession of a controlled substance still getting sealed. The state will also have a few more years to work through backlogs to seal the records of those who are eligible now.

The bill faced a turbulent road to passage, with several years of debate and amendments before it finally passed in 2023 with support from a wide coalition that included businesses, unions and some law enforcement. Although it was touted as an economic driver by making it easier for people with criminal records to get jobs, it still faced staunch opposition from the right who said it would make people less safe.

The law comes on the heels of the 2024 presidential election, seen as a referendum on both the economy and, to an extent, public safety. With the victory of President-elect Donald Trump, Democrats are evaluating where they went wrong, with a lack of focus on the economy as a common refrain. Meanwhile, Republicans in New York have been successful at targeting Democrats on public safety, which remains a top concern for many residents, by attacking criminal justice reforms like the 2019 bail reform law. Criticisms of the Clean Slate Act had similar rhetoric.

City & State spoke with state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, the bill’s sponsor, about the newly effective law that he contends will have both a positive effect on the economy and public safety. He said it would incentivize people who may not be eligible right now to remain crime free in order to benefit in the future. Myrie rejected conservative messaging about the Clean Slate Act and expressed confidence that once the effects of the law bear out, New Yorkers will only see benefits.

It’s a high hope for Myrie on an individual level as well as he ramps up a campaign for New York City mayor. Public perception of one of his landmark achievements in the Legislature will surely play a role in his 2025 campaign. The smooth rollout of the law, which Myrie said relevant agencies have been preparing for, will also be important. Many prosecutors are still asking state lawmakers for additional resources to comply with mandates like changes to the state’s discovery laws from 2019. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

There has been pushback against this legislation from the right and criticisms of it similar to other criminal justice reform measures. How do you make sure the messaging stays on target given the successful messaging of Republicans in the past?

As you may have noticed, Clean Slate did not engender the same sort of messaging backlash from opponents that other efforts have. I think that speaks to the substance of the law. And that is, it is a basic function of fairness that if someone has paid their dues to society after being convicted, that they should have an opportunity to reintegrate and to contribute to our local economy. But also, the coalition that was built around this, whether that was the Business Council for New York (State), the Partnership for New York (City), JPMorgan (Chase & Co.), other Fortune 500 companies, chambers of commerce also signaled that this was good for business. And in an election cycle where we have seen many New Yorkers care very deeply about the state of our economy and what their economic future looks like, to have done this in partnership with the business community, I think is going to be really important going forward to ensure that this does not fall into the same political crossfire that some other efforts have. Lastly, I’d say that many of the individuals that are going to benefit from Clean Slate, these are folks that are already in our community. For the folks who are already in our communities, let’s get them housing. Let’s get them into employment. Let’s get them back to being productive members of our society. And that, I think, is a really important component of the work that we’ve done with Clean Slate. Good for public safety and good for getting people back to work.

Are there people in the pipeline right now who, as soon as this takes effect, will have their records cleared? Or is that not something that will necessarily happen immediately due to logistics?

Our hope is that there are individuals that are going to immediately benefit. But we recognize that this is an administrative challenge to find every record and to automatically seal it. We have two big agencies – the Office of Court Administration and the Department of Criminal Justice Services – that currently have jurisdiction over a lot of these records. And so we’re asking them to work together, but also to look backward in many instances. It does take administrative work, which is why we’ve given them a couple of years to ensure that they clear through the backlog. But there are individuals who will immediately be eligible, and who have been eligible for quite some time. And my hope is that that is going to take place sooner rather than later. The Office of Court Administration has been encouraging people on their website to continue to check in on the (Division of Criminal Justice Services) website to see what their status is. And they have told the public that it’s not going to take the full two to three years that we’ve given them for those records to be cleared. It’s incumbent on those of us in leadership to be getting out to our communities, talking to people about it, one so that they can check on their immediate status. But two, to reinforce the point that if you are on the cusp of being eligible, that it behooves you to stay out of trouble so that you can have this sealing for purposes of getting a job, housing or education.

Have you been in contact with either agency about what they’ve been doing to prepare?

We have been over the past couple of months, just to ensure that there wasn’t anything that we could be doing to help assist in that process. We’ve gotten assurances that the ball is moving forward, and so we’re going to continue to be in contact with these agencies. And as I mentioned, they have put some information out on their public websites, and all indications are that they’re going to be ready to go (today).

Do you anticipate that this is something that will play a role in your mayoral campaign? It’s such a huge policy, how do you see it playing into that 2025 race?

I, of course, am focused about the individuals that stand to benefit, their families in the neighborhoods that these individuals live in who will stand to benefit from the economic engagement that we’re going to see. But to the extent that New York City residents care about public safety and they care about people being put to work, I think this is an important policy and one that we will be talking about. I’m proud of the work that we were able to do. I’m proud of what Clean Slate means on its substance. But I think it also demonstrates my ability to build coalitions, my ability to work with the business community, but also every major labor union in the city and the state, to work with our faith leaders, to work with our advocates. That type of coalition building, and that type of leadership, is what the city needs at this moment.

How slowly or quickly do you think it will be before the city starts to see the benefits of Clean Slate?

My hope is that we see it sooner rather than later. I’d rather this get done right than for it to get done quickly. But my hope is that we will be looking years from now at an increase in job participation, in communities feeling safer, and folks asking, “Well, what happened that caused that spike?” And my hope and dream is that we’ll be able to say Clean Slate played an integral role in us becoming a safer city and one where everybody has an opportunity to flourish.

District attorneys’ offices for example have returned to Albany to say they don’t have enough funding to adhere to other mandates, like changes to discovery laws. Have these agencies communicated any concern about a funding or resource crunch that you anticipate needing to address?

That has not yet come up. It’s part of why we have continued to remain in contact with them throughout this year, after the bill was signed, to ensure that they have the resources to implement this. And we remain open to any of those concerns that may arise. If there are additional resources needed, that is certainly a conversation that my colleagues and I would anticipate entertaining. Because, as I said previously, getting this done right is what’s most important. We don’t want any administrative hurdles to prevent New Yorkers from having an opportunity.