Over 1.7 million Illinois adults will be eligible to have their nonviolent criminal records automatically sealed after Governor JB Pritzker on Friday signed the long-debated ‘Clean Slate’ Act.
House Bill 1836 will require law enforcement agencies and circuit clerks to begin systematically sealing eligible criminal records by 2029.
Existing law already allows people to apply for qualifying records to be sealed for certain crimes.
The new law doesn’t add to the list of eligible offenses, but streamlines and automates the process.
