Illinois ‘Clean Slate’ law allows automatic sealing of nonviolent
criminal records
[January 17, 2026]
By Maggie Dougherty
CHICAGO — Over 1.7 million Illinois adults will be eligible to have
their nonviolent criminal records automatically sealed after Gov. 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 offences, but rather streamlines and automates the process,
removing legwork for those with records.
Of the 2.2 million Illinois adults with a past arrest or conviction,
advocates estimate that 1.74 million, or 79%, could have their records
partially or fully sealed because of the legislation.
Convictions for more serious offenses like sexual violence against
minors, DUIs, reckless driving, cruelty to animals and serious violent
crimes, including any that qualify for sex offender registration remain
ineligible for sealing.
Law enforcement, courts and other relevant agencies will still have
access to sealed records, but the public and private background check
entities will not. Automatic sealing will apply to convictions as well
as dismissed or reversed charges and arrests.
Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria, chief sponsor of the bill in the
House, said the project was a personal one for her. Gordon-Booth
recounted how an infraction from her youth was weaponized against her in
her first run for office.
“I was given the chance to move beyond my mistake and to manifest my
potential in service of my community, and I want the millions of other
people in this state to have the same exact opportunity,” Gordon-Booth
said. “This law is not about charity. It’s not about forgiveness. This
is about justice. This is about redemption.”
The legislation passed 39-17 in the Senate and 80-26 in the House during
the fall veto session.
Yearslong process
Clean Slate proposals have been brought up by legislators for several
years but only gained enough momentum to finally pass last year with the
support of business groups including the Illinois Retail Merchants
Association and Illinois Manufacturers Association.
The bill faced criticism largely from Republican lawmakers who felt that
more exemptions from automatic sealing were necessary and objected to
the removal of a requirement that applicants pass a drug test.
However, proponents of the bill called drug tests and other
administrative parts of the record-sealing process a hurdle that
prevented many eligible Illinoisians from even applying. They pointed to
a study finding that only 10% of those eligible to have records sealed
in Illinois actually go through the process to do so.
Part of that process includes a backlog of record-sealing petitions,
resulting in long wait times for applicants. Clean Slate Illinois, an
advocacy group dedicated to ending permanent punishments for eligible
persons, estimated it would have taken 154 years to clear the conviction
backlog absent from this bill.
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State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria, speaks about the Clean
Slate legislation she championed at a Jan. 16, 2026, bill signing
ceremony. (Screenshot from Illinois.gov)
Critics also took issue with the price tag for circuit clerks to
implement automated sealing procedures, estimated to cost $18 million.
That cost, which does not account for implementation in Cook County,
will be phased in over five years.
Democratic lawmakers said appropriations bills could be filed in future
sessions to cover the cost, but Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, said
during bill discussion that she feared it would ultimately result in a
property tax increase for local governments.
Advocates of the bill say the cost will be recovered through the
economic impact of giving millions of Illinoisians a second chance to
participate in society and opening new opportunities for employment,
voting and secure housing.
Although a 2021 amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits
employers from discriminating based on criminal convictions, many say
they continue to face employment challenges due to their records.
For example, Pritzker pointed to data from advocates showing that 94% of
employers and 90% of landlords use background checks to screen out
applicants with records.
“For too long, we have been shutting doors for Illinoisians that are
coming home from incarceration, nonviolent offenders trying to properly
reenter society, get back on their feet and be law-abiding, productive
members of society,” Pritzker said. “It’s a policy guided by punishment
rather than rehabilitation.”
The Clean Slate Initiative — a bipartisan organization that seeks to
pass automatic record sealing laws across the U.S. — estimates that
sealing records will infuse $4.7 billion of lost wages back into the
state’s economy annually.
Reducing barriers to employment also helps reduce recidivism, according
to Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser.
“We know that the one anti-crime tool that we have, the most effective
one, is when people have jobs,” Mosser said.
The law now instructs the state to convene a task force dedicated to
overseeing implementation of the bill over the next five years and
producing an annual report detailing progress.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2029, Illinois State Police will be responsible for
notifying circuit clerks quarterly about records subject to Clean Slate.
Circuit clerks will be responsible for sealing electronically held
records within 90 days of notice from ISP.
Clerks will automate sealing of records created between 1970 and 2028 in
three waves, with the final wave to be sealed by Jan. 1, 2034.
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