CHICAGO — Nearly 2.2 million people in Illinois might see eligible criminal records sealed following passage of the ‘Clean Slate’ Act during last week’s veto session.

The bill would require law enforcement agencies to automatically seal eligible criminal records every six months. Excluded from the measure are convictions for sexual violence against minors, DUIs, reckless driving, cruelty to animals and serious violent crimes, including any that would qualify for sex offender registration.

“We are not adding any crimes that are not currently allowed to be sealed by petition, we are just making the process automatic,” bill sponsor Sen. Elgie Sims Jr., D-Chicago, said during discussion on the Senate floor.

After an earlier version of the bill failed to clear both chambers during the spring legislative session, House Bill 1836 now awaits only a signature from Gov. JB Pritzker to become law. The legislation passed 39-17 in the Senate and 80-26 in the House during the fall veto session.

Law enforcement, courts and other relevant agencies would continue to have access to sealed records, but the public and private background check entities would not. Automatic sealing would apply to convictions as well as dismissed or reversed charges and arrests.

Advocates of the bill say it will give Illinoisians a second chance to participate in society and will open new opportunities to work, vote and secure housing.

Although a 2021 amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits employers from discriminating based on criminal convictions, many say they continue to face employment challenges due to their records.

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The Clean Slate Initiative — a bipartisan organization that seeks to pass automatic record sealing laws across the U.S. — estimates that sealing records would infuse $4.7 billion in lost wages back into the state’s economy annually.

“To me, this is a jobs bill,” Sims said of the Clean Slate Act.

Twelve other states and the District of Columbia have similar laws in place, according to advocates.

If signed, the bill would create a task force dedicated to overseeing implementation of the bill over the next five years and producing an annual report detailing progress. Automated sealing by the courts would begin by Jan. 1, 2031.

Partisan divide

Republican senators raised concerns during floor debate regarding appropriations needed to fund the bill, additional exemptions to automatic sealing, and the removal of a drug test requirement for sealing records.

Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, said she feared the $18 million estimated cost for circuit clerks to comply with automatic sealing would ultimately result in a property tax increase for local municipalities.

That $18 million, which does not include costs for Cook County, would be phased in over five years. But future General Assemblies would have to agree to provide the funding.

In reply, Sims invited Bryant to participate in this year’s budget process.

Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, said he wished that crimes involving financial exploitation of the elderly had been exempted along with others on the list of exemptions.

McClure said he had seen the impact of those crimes on people’s lives while working as a prosecutor. He feared the Clean Slate Act would make it harder for victims to seek compensation and for families to avoid hiring someone with a record of harming the elderly.

“The family member who’s hiring to look after their loved one is shielded from that information,” McClure said.

Sims said he discussed the issue of financial crimes against the elderly with state’s attorneys, and ultimately he decided it was appropriate to include those crimes in automated sealing.

McClure and Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, each raised concerns regarding the removal of a requirement that petitioners have proof of passing a drug test within 30 days of requesting to seal drug-related records.

“You’re trying to rehabilitate people. You’re trying to show that they’re on the right path, but you’re also saying that you don’t want them to prove that they can’t stay clean for 48 hours?” McClure said.

Sims said that issue is addressed by a three-year prohibition on sealing new felony convictions. That is, the latest sentence served by the individual for a felony conviction is not eligible for sealing until three years from the end of their most recent sentence.

“Nothing stops us from rearresting and reconvicting anybody who may decide that they just don’t want to stand on the side of law and order,” Sen. Willie Preston, D-Chicago, said. “What we can say and send a strong message to the employers of the state of Illinois, to the people of Illinois, is that we are not going to be soft on crime, but we are going to be smart with justice.”

At the heart of the critiques, McClure said, was a concern about personal responsibility.

“One of the major themes in anyone who is rehabilitated from the criminal justice system is that they have taken personal responsibility to get their life on track,” McClure said. “This takes those things away. So, it makes us less safe.”

Barriers to clean records

The drug test is just one of the hurdles to retaining a clean record lifted by the bill, according to advocates. They pointed to a study finding that only 10% of those eligible to have records sealed in Illinois actually go through the process to do so.

McClure said the process is a simple one involving online forms and that advocates did not know what they were talking about.

“If the process were easy, then 90% of the people who are eligible to have their records sealed would not be barred from receiving those benefits,” Sims responded.

He added that McClure’s experience as an attorney was not representative of the general population.

“It is daunting for someone who does not go in a courtroom often or every day to have to go into the courtroom and go through that process,” Sims said.

According to legal aid resources, the current process of sealing records includes collecting information on an individual’s case, filling out forms — some of which can be completed online — and filing a petition in the county or counties where charges originated. There is usually a fee to file the petition, and petitioners must give notice to the prosecutor and police agency associated with the case, which are given 60 days to object. Some counties require petitioners to appear in court while others, such as Cook County, handle reviews administratively.

Sims said he hoped the governor would sign the bill, adding that Pritzker had “always been a champion of giving people second chances.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.