Steven Stafstrom

The House of Representatives passed HB 6918 on Tuesday that makes important clarifying and technical changes to the groundbreaking Clean Slate legislation signed into law in 2021, which can now be fully implemented and deliver on the promise of a fresh start for hundreds of thousands of people in education, employment and housing without the burden of a long-past criminal conviction.

Business organizations and chambers of commerce have lined up behind Clean Slate legislation in Connecticut and throughout the country, recognizing it as an economic driver by enhancing someone's ability to be gainfully employed, start a business and secure housing.

Outdated technology and outstanding legal and policy questions required updating in order to automatically erase criminal records of people seven years after the date of their conviction for a misdemeanor or 10 years after the date of their conviction for certain felonies if they have not been convicted of other crimes. 

A study from Michigan, which passed a clean slate law in 2020, found that less than 1% of people who had a violent crime expunged from their records were reconvicted of another violent crime five years after they were cleared.  

I was proud to lead passage of this bill with wide bipartisan support. No one's future should be limited because of mistakes made years or even decades ago.