Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
The Clean Slate Act of 2025 requires automatic sealing of many federal records for certain nonviolent marijuana offenses and federal arrests without conviction. It creates a petition process to seal other eligible nonviolent federal convictions, sets exceptions for law enforcement, national security, and certain employment checks, and requires rulemaking, reporting, and technological systems to implement sealing.
Scope: liberals praise retroactive automatic sealing; conservatives worry about lost disclosure.
Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill is a clearly scoped substantive statutory reform with detailed legal mechanisms and assigned implementation responsibilities.
The Clean Slate Act of 2025 requires automatic sealing of many federal records for certain nonviolent marijuana offenses and federal arrests without conviction.
It creates a petition process to seal other eligible nonviolent federal convictions, sets exceptions for law enforcement, national security, and certain employment checks, and requires rulemaking, reporting, and technological systems to implement sealing.
Sealing triggers limits on disclosure and perjury liability, provides penalties for unauthorized disclosure, and gives employers immunity for liabilities tied to sealed records.
Substantive but targeted criminal-justice reform with administrative costs and law-enforcement concerns; plausible bipartisan support but significant Senate barriers.
Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill is a clearly scoped substantive statutory reform with detailed legal mechanisms and assigned implementation responsibilities. It translates policy aims into specific statutory commands, procedural rules, and exceptions, and creates both an automatic-sealing pathway and a petition-based pathway with specified burdens and timelines.
Scope: liberals praise retroactive automatic sealing; conservatives worry about lost disclosure.
These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.
Scope: liberals praise retroactive automatic sealing; conservatives worry about lost disclosure.
Likely strongly supportive.
The bill expands automatic relief for people with federal nonviolent marijuana convictions and arrests without conviction, reduces collateral consequences, and includes retroactivity and reporting requirements.
It aligns with priorities to reduce barriers to employment and address disproportionate enforcement harms, though some may press for broader scope.
Generally supportive but cautious.
The bill advances reentry and reduces administrative burden, while including sensible exclusions for security and safety.
Concerns focus on implementation logistics, workload for courts and agencies, and ensuring exceptions are clear and narrowly applied.
Skeptical or generally opposed.
While supporting second-chance policies, this bill raises concerns about weakening background checks, public safety, and employer knowledge.
Retroactive sealing and broad immunity for employers may be seen as reducing accountability.
Reached or meaningfully advanced
Reached or meaningfully advanced
Still ahead
Still ahead
Still ahead
Substantive but targeted criminal-justice reform with administrative costs and law-enforcement concerns; plausible bipartisan support but significant Senate barriers.
The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.
Scope: liberals praise retroactive automatic sealing; conservatives worry about lost disclosure.
Substantive but targeted criminal-justice reform with administrative costs and law-enforcement concerns; plausible bipartisan support but s…
Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill is a clearly scoped substantive statutory reform with detailed legal mechanisms and assigned implementation responsibilities. It translates policy aims into specific…
Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.