Utah Clean Slate Summary

Legislation Passed: March 2019

Effective Date: Originally the effective date was May 1, 2020, but implementation was delayed due to COVID-19. The state began a pilot project to identify and process older eligible cases and individuals beginning February 2022 and worked to fully automate the process. 

New Legislation: In 2024 Clean Slate expungement orders were paused from October 1, 2024 until January 1, 2026. During the pause people can still initiate Clean Slate by completing an online form managed by the Courts, providing Name, DOB, Case Number. In 2025, the legislature granted BCI the authority to notify the courts when BCI identifies problematic expungement orders. These frequently include cases that have been transferred, duplicate filings, bound-over cases, etc. 

Terms: “Expungement” is largely synonymous with “Sealing”

Eligibility Criteria

Convictions/Type

• Non-convictions: arrests without prosecution, dismissed charges, acquittals
• Misdemeanors: Class A for possession of controlled substance (after 7 years), Class B (after 6 years), Class C (after 5 years), Infraction or Traffic Violation (after 3 years).
• Felonies are not eligible.

Other Criteria

• Payment of fines, fees, restitution.
• No pending charges (in-state record checks only).
• Mandatory waiting period.
• Individual does not have a combination of other disqualifying convictions (in-state record checks only).
• Starting October 1, 2024, people currently on probation or incarcerated are not eligible.

Initiating agency: The Administrative Office of Courts (AOC) establishes eligibility and electronically sends expungement orders to BCI.

Status: In-progress. The Court has issued 478,409 expungement orders to BCI for review and expungement.

October 1, 2024 – January 1, 2026, Clean Slate automatic expungement is on a pause for processing backlogged court orders and refining processing. Individuals can still file petitions by completing an AOC online form requesting expungement/sealing.

Approach

AOC determines eligibility, processes the order, and sends the expungement orders to BCI. Effective October 1, 2024, legislation also established priorities on processing orders.

1. Petition-based expungements;
2. Expungement orders upon a pardon by the Board of Pardons and Parole;
3. Expungement orders upon a plea in abeyance;
4. Expungement orders where an individual submitted a form requesting automatic expungement; and
5. Expungement orders where the court identified the case as being eligible for automatic expungement [i.e., backlogged cases]. See: Utah Code 77-40a-401(1).

Reported/Anticipated challenges

• 85% of court ordered expungements have required manual review by BCI to establish linkage to existing criminal history records.
• Court records provided insufficient detail to identify cases and individuals. Collaborative work between AOC and BCI has improved data linkages.
• Data quality issues at BCI with missing arrest reports and fingerprints. See table below.
• Sentence completion confirmation by AOC.
• Fines/Fees payment validation by AOC.
• As of March 2026, BCI has discovered notified AOC of 2,033 cases from the courts where an individual was not eligible for expungement, most often involving DUI offenses, case transfers, bound-over, and/or duplicate filings, or other problems with expungement orders. None of these cases have been granted expungement orders. 

Notifications

• BCI notifies all agencies involved in the expunged case through UCJIS message.
• Individuals are not notified that their records are expunged but may query BCI to review their records.

Outcomes to date

Note: Backlog of orders on September 1, 2024 was 227,000.