On April 29, Maine governor Janet Mills vetoed a bill that would have authorized automatic sealing of many misdemeanor convictions after five conviction-free years, and made Maine the 14th state to adopt a “clean slate” record relief measure. Efforts to override her veto failed, but supporters of the failed record relief bill vowed to bring it back in the next legislative session.
Our recent annual report notes that Illinois became the 13th “clean slate” state when Governor Pritzker signed it into law in January. The Illinois law’s provisions are explained in a post we published last fall.
In support of her veto, Governor Mills’ letter cited the bill’s extension to domestic violence convictions, as well as recurring concerns held by opponents of automatic sealing: cost and constitutionality.
There are several significant problems with the legislation. First, as drafted, L.D. 1911 would mandate the sealing of records for Class D domestic violence assault – a result that is plainly contrary to the public interest. Second, a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit strongly suggests that categorically sealing criminal records without conducting a case-by-case review of the circumstances violates the First Amendment. Third, this legislation would commit the State to hiring seven permanent employees to conduct the work of sealing records. Only a fraction of this cost has been appropriated. This is a significant on-going expense that could be avoided by allowing interested persons to request that their records be sealed, rather that requiring the Judicial Branch to seal all records eligible records as a matter of course.
The bill’s supporters argued that the inclusion of domestic violence convictions was an acknowledged clerical error that would have been corrected in the implementation process, and that the governor’s other objections (cost and constitutionality) were overblown, and outweighed by the advantages for the many Maine citizens who stood to gain from the bill, which had been passed with bipartisan support. They pointed out that the petition-based sealing process enacted in 2024 is rarely used, largely because of the difficulties faced by individuals navigating the judicial process. The bill would have given thousands of deserving Mainers new opportunities for employment and housing.
While efforts to override the governor’s veto fell short this year, the bill’s primary sponsor stated that “There is a commitment to working in a future Legislature on bringing this proposal back. . . . A lot of the groundwork, momentum and excitement for this has been growing.”
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