CHICAGO — Over 1.7 million Illinois adults will be eligible to have their nonviolent criminal records automatically sealed after Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday signed the long-debated ‘Clean Slate’ Act.

House Bill 1836 will require law enforcement agencies and circuit clerks to begin systematically sealing eligible criminal records by 2029. Existing law already allows people to apply for qualifying records to be sealed for certain crimes. The new law doesn’t add to the list of eligible offences, but rather streamlines and automates the process, removing legwork for those with records.

Of the 2.2 million Illinois adults with a past arrest or conviction, advocates estimate that 1.74 million, or 79%, could have their records partially or fully sealed because of the legislation.

Convictions for more serious offenses like sexual violence against minors, DUIs, reckless driving, cruelty to animals and serious violent crimes, including any that qualify for sex offender registration remain ineligible for sealing.

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

Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria, chief sponsor of the bill in the House, said the project was a personal one for her. Gordon-Booth recounted how an infraction from her youth was weaponized against her in her first run for office.

“I was given the chance to move beyond my mistake and to manifest my potential in service of my community, and I want the millions of other people in this state to have the same exact opportunity,” Gordon-Booth said. “This law is not about charity. It’s not about forgiveness. This is about justice. This is about redemption.”

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The legislation passed 39-17 in the Senate and 80-26 in the House during the fall veto session.

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Yearslong process

Clean Slate proposals have been brought up by legislators for several years but only gained enough momentum to finally pass last year with the support of business groups including the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and Illinois Manufacturers Association.

Read more: Illinois criminal justice advocates tout ‘Clean Slate’ legislation as ‘economic boon’ | ‘Clean Slate’ Act to seal nonviolent criminal records loses in race against time | ‘Clean Slate’ Act passes after failing to clear legislature in past years

The bill faced criticism largely from Republican lawmakers who felt that more exemptions from automatic sealing were necessary and objected to the removal of a requirement that applicants pass a drug test.

However, proponents of the bill called drug tests and other administrative parts of the record-sealing process a hurdle that prevented many eligible Illinoisians from even applying. 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.

Part of that process includes a backlog of record-sealing petitions, resulting in long wait times for applicants. Clean Slate Illinois, an advocacy group dedicated to ending permanent punishments for eligible persons, estimated it would have taken 154 years to clear the conviction backlog absent from this bill.

Critics also took issue with the price tag for circuit clerks to implement automated sealing procedures, estimated to cost $18 million. That cost, which does not account for implementation in Cook County, will be phased in over five years.

Democratic lawmakers said appropriations bills could be filed in future sessions to cover the cost, but Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, said during bill discussion that she feared it would ultimately result in a property tax increase for local governments.

Advocates of the bill say the cost will be recovered through the economic impact of giving millions of Illinoisians a second chance to participate in society and opening new opportunities for employment, voting 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.

For example, Pritzker pointed to data from advocates showing that 94% of employers and 90% of landlords use background checks to screen out applicants with records.

“For too long, we have been shutting doors for Illinoisians that are coming home from incarceration, nonviolent offenders trying to properly reenter society, get back on their feet and be law-abiding, productive members of society,” Pritzker said. “It’s a policy guided by punishment rather than rehabilitation.”

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

Reducing barriers to employment also helps reduce recidivism, according to Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser.

“We know that the one anti-crime tool that we have, the most effective one, is when people have jobs,” Mosser said.

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The law now instructs the state to convene a task force dedicated to overseeing implementation of the bill over the next five years and producing an annual report detailing progress.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2029, Illinois State Police will be responsible for notifying circuit clerks quarterly about records subject to Clean Slate. Circuit clerks will be responsible for sealing electronically held records within 90 days of notice from ISP.

Clerks will automate sealing of records created between 1970 and 2028 in three waves, with the final wave to be sealed by Jan. 1, 2034.

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.