This seems like a meritorious effort on the part of LBR, but there is a catch.
H.R. 2348 is modeled on a similar first-of-its-kind law enacted by Pennsylvania last year, which allows residents with nonviolent misdemeanor convictions to have their records sealed if they have stayed out of trouble for 10 years.
“The Clean Slate Act would ensure that people who pay their debt to society and stay on the straight and narrow can earn a second shot at a better life,” Blunt Rochester said in a statement. “If enacted, this legislation would make meaningful strides in filling the 7.1 million unfilled jobs in our country and improve the everyday lives of 100 million Americans who have past records.”
“Sealed” isn’t expunged, so the records are still there, and LBR is very transparent about the fact that she wants the government to be able to use those records against citizens, if need be.
A spokesperson for Blunt Rochester said there is a good reason the bill doesn’t call for a total erasure of the record. “We wanted the opportunity for law enforcement and Homeland Security to have access to the files and be able to see them in their entirety,” Kyle Morse said. “We wanted to assure them that they wouldn’t lose access.”
