Illinois Passes Clean Slate Act

Illinois HB1836, also known as the Clean Slate Act, recently passed and is awaiting Governor Pritzker’s signature. If no action is taken to either sign or veto by December 29th, HB1836 will become law.

With this law, Illinois expands upon its existing framework that allows for the automatic expungement of minor cannabis offenses and allows individuals to petition for expungement relief for certain criminal record information.

HB1836 provides an automatic pathway for individuals to have their eligible criminal records sealed, versus relying on the petition-based system. Starting January 1, 2029, the Illinois State Police will identify and automatically seal eligible records, providing notice to circuit court clerks of that action. This will happen on a quarterly basis at a minimum. Once circuit courts are notified, the clerks must seal records within 90 days of notice from the Illinois State Police. The initial record sealing process will start with more recent records, those from July 1, 2005-January 1, 2029, and then will begin to address more historical records each year through 2034.

Certain records are eligible for automatic sealing, including, for example, the following:

• Non-conviction records.
• Arrest records or charges that resulted in acquittal, dismissal, or conviction when the conviction was reversed or vacated are subject to automatic sealing immediately.
• Misdemeanor convictions once 2 years have passed since termination of the sentence.
• Felony convictions once 3 years have passed since termination of the sentence.

Other records are not eligible, including, for example, the following:

• Records where the individual is serving a sentence, order of supervision, or order of qualified probation.
• Records where the individual has pending filed charges.
• If disposition status cannot be determined, misdemeanor charges will not be considered pending if one year has elapsed since the filing of charges. Felony charges will not be considered pending if seven years have elapsed since the filing of charges.
• Records that require public registration under the Sex Offender Registration Act.
• Records that require public registration under the Arsonist Registration Act or the Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registration Act are not eligible until the individual is no longer required to register.
• Class X felonies.
• Convictions for crimes of violence, trafficking in persons, robbery, burglary and several others are also not eligible.

The law also creates the Illinois Clean Slate Task Force which will monitor the development of processes for automatic sealing. Employers should continue to track this law, working with their background screening provider to ensure the provider has appropriate processes in place to account for this law and other clean slate laws in effect around the country.