New California Law Allowing More Sealed Criminal Records Continues to Spur Debate

A man is arrested by a Sheriff's Deputy in Yucaipa, Calif., on Aug. 1, 2020. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A new California law expands eligibility for convicted felons to seal their criminal records from employers and landlords.

Approved by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 29, 2022, Senate Bill (SB) 731 takes effect in July.

Critics of the new law say it will harm public safety, while proponents say it provides a positive pathway to employment for eligible felons.

Richard Stapler, chief of staff for state Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), who voted in favor of the law, said it does not allow violent or sexual offenders to request their records be sealed.

“This legislation follows on the heels of seven other states that have passed similar legislation that ensures those who are convicted of non-serious felonies can be considered for employment,” Stapler told The Epoch Times.

“The real focus is drug offenses,” he said. “If it’s violent, sexual, you’re not getting sealed.”

No New Arrests

Under the new California law, certain convicted felons will be allowed to request their records be sealed if they complete their sentence and go four years without any new arrests.

The law also expands the eligibility for arrest records to be sealed from those arrested for a felony punishable by county jail to include those by state prison, with other requirements.

“This is a path to helping people who paid their debt to society and have done the work to better themselves to gain employment and to ensure they don’t recommit crimes,” Stapler said.

Meanwhile, state Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) said he fails to see the benefit of the new law.

“There are certain things that are blatantly bad ideas,” he told The Epoch Times. “This is one of those things. [However,] I understand the motivation for creating a forgiving pathway.”

Lackey said in order to receive full forgiveness of a crime, you must first acknowledge there was wrongdoing.

“There’s a reason we check past behaviors. It’s indicative of future behavior,” Lackey said. “Change is necessary. Dismissing that there was never any wrongdoing is not the pathway to improvement.”

Teaching Credentials

The new law focuses heavily on allowing those with certain criminal records access to teaching credentials and other employment opportunities. For example, the law prohibits denying such credentials to those with convictions for drug possession that are more than five years old.

John Sasaki, director of communications for the Oakland Unified School District, said his district is still learning about the impacts of SB 731.

“It seems like a step in the right direction as it is about forgiveness and giving people a second chance,” he wrote in an email to The Epoch Times. “Past drug offenses more than five years old should not keep people from being able to attain gainful employment if they are otherwise qualified.”

El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson strongly objected to the law on behalf of the California District Attorneys Association and made his concerns public prior to its passing.

“SB 731 perpetuates the flaws in our already robust set of laws for expungements and unreasonably expands them so as to compromise public safety and ignore the rights of victims,” he wrote in a statement emailed to the Epoch Times.

Co-authors of the bill state Sens. María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) and Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) did not return requests for comment as of press time.