With less than a week to go before state lawmakers adjourn for the rest of the year, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday she’s confident a deal can be reached to seal many criminal records.
The proposal, known as the Clean Slate Act by its supporters, has come close to passing in previous legislative sessions and has been a long-sought goal of supporters of changing New York’s criminal justice laws.
Republican lawmakers, however, have questioned the effectiveness of doing so given voter polls showing New Yorkers want to address crime and public safety.
However, the Democratic leadership of the Legislature and the governor support sealing criminal records in order to give people who have been convicted of a crime a better chance at getting a job or housing.
“I’ve supported Clean Slate, but there are some technical changes,” Hochul told reporters Sunday in New York City. “We want to make sure we exclude certain types of crimes and make sure the time period is appropriate.”
Lawmakers have proposed sealing criminal records after three years for misdemeanors and after seven years for felonies, not counting time in prison where probation and parole is completed and no charges are pending.
Hochul added that she is “confident that we will be able to work something out that is good for the people of this state.”
The legislature is scheduled to end on June 8.
Supporters have estimated that as many as 2 million people could benefit from the measure if it is adopted.
But Republicans have charged that the proposal could prove dangerous.
“I think it’s a very dangerous proposition, because there are jobs where you want to know the background of some people,” Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay said earlier this year.
