NYAPRS Note: NYAPRS joins our colleagues in the campaign to pass Clean Slate Legislation in our gratitude to the Senate for passing the bill and in our resolve to see the bill get through both houses and signed by the Governor next session. Great thanks are due to the incredible members of the campaign and its devoted sponsors Senator Zellnor Myrie and Assemblymember Catalina Cruz. Look for organizing details in the coming months.
Clean Slate Bill Lacked Assembly Votes. Why Advocates Are Hopeful For 2023.
By Katelyn Cordero Politico June 13, 2022
ALBANY – The Clean Slate Act may have been shelved for another legislative session, but advocates and bill sponsors are already gearing up to continue the fight in 2023.
The bill that would seal criminal records in New York for three years after sentencing for misdemeanors and seven years for felonies passed the Senate, but stalled when it made it to the Assembly — despite a late push to get it approved in final hours of the session.
Assemblymember Catalina Cruz (D-Queens) said the bill lacked the votes needed to be put onto the Assembly floor, but she expressed optimism for the next session after years of the bill struggling to get final approval and support from Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to bring it to the floor with the necessary votes to give 2.3 million New Yorkers a chance at rebuilding their lives, but we were able to increase the number of people who support it, and we were able to work through concerns that folks had,” Cruz, the bill’s sponsor said in an interview Friday with POLITICO. “We remain committed to pass it in the next session and make sure that we are doing right by New Yorkers.”
The bill was first introduced in March 2021 and would allow for individuals to have their records sealed three years from sentencing for a misdemeanors and seven years for felonies. That is barring any new convictions during the waiting period and upon completion of probation, parole or post-release supervision.
Hochul included a version of the bill with longer waiting periods in her budget proposal in January, but it didn’t make it into the final budget deal — leaving it as an end-of-session issue as a standalone bill, making it even more difficult to pass.
While the records would be sealed to most entities, the bill states that the records would still be accessible to qualifying state or local agencies. Cruz said the only policy concern brought up was with the state Education Department accessing records for licensing it oversees. She said it was decided that a chapter amendment would be made after the bill was passed, but the amendment can now be made in the next session.
“Over the last six months we have put at the forefront of this fight the stories of people that have gone to prison and are trying to rebuild their lives and because of a conviction have been unable to move forward,” Cruz said. “Those who oppose the bill have tried to paint this as everyone will be free of criminal justice reform but that’s completely erroneous.”
Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn), the bill’s Senate sponsor, has also pledged that the measure would be revived next year.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve given my heart and soul to pass Clean Slate,” he wrote June 4 on Twitter. “So it goes without saying that I’m beyond disappointed that we could not get it across the finish line this year. But hope is a discipline. We will be back. We will be better. And we will win.”