California Clean Slate Summary

Legislation passed dates: AB-1076 (10/8/2019), AB-145 (7/16/2021), SB-731 (9/29/2022), and AB-168 (7/3/2024)

AB 1076 was passed in October 2019 and established the first iteration of state-initiated record relief process. It covered non-conviction records, misdemeanor convictions and certain non-violent felony convictions.  SB-731 was passed on September 2022 and expanded record eligibility and implementation timelines.

Effective dates:

AB -1076 became effective on July 1, 2022 (as amended via AB-145) and SB-731 became effective on October 1, 2024 (as amended by AB-168).

Appropriation amount: From the available Cal DOJ budget request information available = $24 million (cumulative) over six years.

Terminology: Criminal history records eligible for automated expungement contain a ‘relief’ notation that prohibits public disclosure. Court records are sealed.

Eligibility Criteria:

Arrest and Non-conviction Records[1]

• Misdemeanors
  • Dismissals
  • Acquittals or no charges filed one year after the arrest

• Felonies
  • Dismissals
  • Lower-level felony offenses with no charges filed or acquittal three years after the arrest date
  • A felony offense punishable by 8 or more years imprisonment with no charges filed or acquittal six years after arrest date

• Individuals who have successfully completed any of the following related to an arrest:
  • Prefiling diversion program administered by a prosecuting attorney in lieu of filing an accusatory pleading
  • Drug diversion program administered by a superior court, or deferred entry of judgment program
  • Pretrial diversion, or diversion program related to cognitive disability

Conviction Records[2]

The record subject is eligible if he/she:

• Is not required to register on Sex Offender Registry
• Has no active record in Supervised Release File
• Is not currently serving a sentence for any offense
• Has no indication of any pending charges
• Was sentenced to probation and successfully completed without revocation
• Was convicted of an infraction or misdemeanor without a probation sentence and has completed their sentence and one year has elapsed since date of judgment
• Was convicted of a felony, other than one which completed probation without revocation, and had no new felony convictions for four years after completing sentence terms. 

Agencies Involved:

California Department of Justice* – Agency responsible for identifying eligible cases and notifying courts and law enforcement agencies to seal locally held records.

Courts are responsible for sealing records upon notification by the Department of Justice.

Status: California is in the implementation phase of Clean Slate.

Approach:

Cal DOJ developed programming logic to determine record relief eligibility on a monthly basis. This program queries the state criminal history repository and the Supervised Persons File, and validates all records against the eligibility rules defined in statute. Cal DOJ identifies an individual’s criminal history record using a combination of biometric data and person and event identifiers such as name, date of birth, arrest date, arrest number, etc. The programming logic then applies additional filtration based on offense, pending charges, recent convictions, and calculates sentence time lengths using statutory requirements (as opposed to release dates which are not consistently reported). The results are electronically distributed to the local court of jurisdiction. Courts may deny relief if a disqualifying event is known or imminent, or if it provides Cal DOJ with supplemental information that prevents relief being granted.

Running the algorithm to identify the list of eligible cases is dynamic in that, as individuals become eligible, they are marked for automatic relief in the criminal history database. Conversely, should individuals be newly found to be ineligible (for example, new conviction information was submitted to DOJ, or placed under supervision), then relief that had been granted may be subsequently removed.

Reported/anticipated challenges:

Similar to many states, inconsistent person and charge tracking among arrest, charge filing, and disposition events presents significant challenge for Cal DOJ when determining relief eligibility. Law enforcement agencies vary in their processes in capturing, recording, and sharing biometric-based person identifiers in addition to unique arrest charge identifiers that are essential for prosecutors and courts to receive and ultimately include in disposition reports back to Cal DOJ. Local agencies’ technological capabilities also vary widely across the state and many rely on manual paper-based record reporting. In addition, some law enforcement agencies only submit the highest charge, while others submit the top five charges, due to limitations of certain aging technologies.

Notifications:

Neither DOJ nor the Courts notify impacted individuals that their arrest and/or conviction has been relieved. If an individual wants to determine whether or not he has been granted relief on his criminal history record, the only recourse in California is to request one’s own criminal history record. An individual who desires to know if records maintained by the Courts have been updated would need to contact the county court.

Outcomes to date:

DOJ is mandated to publish annual statistics by county, providing the number of arrests and convictions receiving relief, any cases that were prohibited from relief, as well as the percent of total arrests lacking a disposition.

Over the 18 months of data spanning July 1^st, 2022, through December 31^st, 2023, 9,069,788 arrests and 2,834,905 convictions received automatic relief in California. Annual statistics are available on the California Open Justice website at https://openjustice.doj.ca.gov/data.

[1] California Penal Code § 851.93 (2024).

[2] California Penal Code §1203.425 (2024).