Gov. Kathy Hochul and state legislative leaders all agree: They’re nearing a deal on a landmark bill that would automatically seal criminal convictions in an effort to help people find work after they’ve paid their debt to society.
Just don’t ask them what the sticking points are.
The so-called Clean Slate Act is the most significant piece of legislation Hochul is negotiating with Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie ahead of the final scheduled date for the 2023 legislative session in Albany on June 8.
The measure — which is supported by a broad swath of criminal-justice reform advocates, labor unions and business organizations — would seal most misdemeanor and felony records after a person has completed their incarceration and following a multiyear waiting period, making them unavailable to prospective employers and the general public, in most cases.
Speaking separately to reporters on Wednesday, Hochul, Heastie and Stewart-Cousins all said they’re optimistic that they can strike a deal and get it approved before the legislative session winds down. But none were willing to get into detail about their remaining disagreements, or provide specifics about the timelines for implementing the record sealing process.
“We're just down to the technical changes that we're having conversations about,” Hochul told reporters after an unrelated event in New York City.
Criminal-justice reformers have made the Clean Slate Act a priority at the Capitol for three years, arguing it’s a measure that will help reintegrate formerly incarcerated people back into society by removing barriers for them to find employment.
Republicans, such as Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, label the measure “pro-criminal” and are likely to vigorously debate the measure should it come to the floor for a vote.
Under a version of the bill sponsored by state Sen. Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn and Assemblymember Catalina Cruz of Queens, a misdemeanor conviction would be sealed three years after a person completes their prison sentence. For felonies, it would be seven years following their time served.
The measure would not apply to people with sex convictions, which would not be sealed. And the record sealing would be contingent on a person not facing additional charges once they’ve been released from prison.
The bill also includes a number of exceptions where certain institutions can still access a person’s sealed criminal records, such as when a person is applying for a firearm, or trying to work for law enforcement, or if the DMV has to check on a person’s traffic convictions.
It’s not the first time the measure has come close to passing.
Last year, the Senate approved the measure but the Assembly didn’t, despite some late-session maneuvering that suggested a vote was imminent.
Hochul, a Democrat, included a different version of the Clean Slate Act — one that wouldn’t have started the automatic-sealing timeline until a person’s maximum possible sentence was finished — in her budget proposal last year, though it fell out of the final spending plan.
Stewart-Cousins, a Yonkers Democrat, told reporters on Wednesday that the issue of the timeline for implementation has been pretty much settled, though she declined to get specific.
“I don't want to put something out because we are still negotiating,” she said. “But I do believe that we are pretty set on the times.”
A few dozen supporters of the measure gathered at the Capitol on Wednesday, where they rallied on the ornate Million Dollar Staircase and called on the Legislature to bring the bill to a vote.
Among the organizations who sent representatives to speak were the Partnership for New York City, the influential business group, and a number of labor unions.
Cruz, who has sponsored the bill since its introduction in 2021, said it’s just a matter of time before the measure comes to the Assembly floor for a vote.
Speaking at the rally, Cruz told supporters she “can’t find any excuse not to get this done this year.”
“We've created the kind of bill that will provide work, that will provide housing, that will provide opportunities for the people who've paid their dues to society and have demonstrated over and over and over again their willingness, their need to be part of our community, but there's a dark shadow over their head that doesn't let them,” she said.
Stewart-Cousins said she expects the legislative session to end as scheduled next week, though she acknowledged it could bleed into Friday, June 9.
