On August 18, 2022, the California Senate approved Senate Bill 731, and now the bill is on its way to Governor Gavin Newson for deliberation. If approved by the governor and signed into law, this bill would seal records of defendants convicted of non-violent felonies on or after January 1, 2005, as long as the defendant has completed all terms of incarceration, probation, supervision and parole and is not convicted of a new felony for four (4) years.
As of right now, the Department of Justice must review state-wide criminal records on a monthly basis and identify those eligible for automatic conviction record relief. But, only those who committed a misdemeanor offense or were sentenced to probation, were convicted on or after January 1, 1973, and met specific criteria were eligible.
This bill specifies that the sealing of criminal records does not release a defendant from fulfilling outstanding, unexpired terms of criminal protective orders. Those convicted of serious and violent crimes will have to petition the court before records can be sealed and sex offenders are excluded from this legislation entirely.
All sealed criminal records will still be provided to school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and private schools so that they may conduct background checks for job applicants. Those with sealed records are also required to disclose their criminal history if applying for law enforcement or public office positions.
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