The Legal Aid Society is calling on Governor Hochl to enact Clean Slate, critical legislation that would automatically expunge certain conviction records.

The collateral damage of a criminal conviction can be wide-ranging and enduring — permanently barring many individuals from basic opportunities like employment and housing — a reality that many Legal Aid clients suffer from on a regular basis. Clean Slate will help to end those long-term consequences.

“This is a moment for the millions of New Yorkers who have been forced to suffer under the cloud of a criminal conviction that has long impeded their ability to secure employment, housing, educational opportunities, benefits and other critical needs,” reads a statement from Legal Aid. “With the stroke of a pen, Governor Kathy Hochul can end this nightmare and transform the lives of so many of our clients and their families for the better, and we urge her to act without any further delay.”

Legal Aid lauds bill sponsors Senator Zellnor Myrie and Assembly Member Catalina Cruz for championing Clean Slate, and is urging lawmakers to build on this success next session by passing other needed measures to overhaul our unjust and punitive criminal legal system including the Treatment Not Jail Act, Communities Not Cages, and comprehensive parole reform.