An estimated 2 million Illinois residents who’ve served their sentences for nonviolent offenses will become eligible to have their state criminal records automatically sealed from public view beginning in 2029, under the so-called Clean Slate measure Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law Friday.

Following the lead of a dozen other states, Illinois will automate the byzantine process of sealing records that can stand in the way of people obtaining jobs, housing and education, a move supporters say will help those with past convictions escape cycles of poverty and crime.

“For too long, we have been shutting doors for Illinoisans 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 Friday during a news conference at XS Tennis, a training and education center in the Washington Park neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. “They too often face insurmountable barriers and stigma in finding jobs and housing and education. For many, that means it can be easier to fall back into old patterns rather than build a new life.”

Of the roughly 2 million people in Illinois who are eligible to have their records sealed under existing state law, only about 6,000 each year go through the labor-intensive legal process required to get it done, Pritzker said.

“That’s not fair or just. It’s also not smart,” the governor said, noting that stable employment and housing and access to higher education, all of which can be denied as a result of routine background screenings, make it less likely someone will end up back in prison.

The new law doesn’t change which convictions can be sealed; it only makes the sealing automatic, applying to only some misdemeanor and felony convictions. Convictions for violent crimes, sex crimes, drunken driving and other serious offenses are not eligible.

Police, prosecutors and courts will continue to have access to sealed records, as will other entities regulated by state and federal law, including school and park districts, financial institutions and public transit agencies, through the Illinois State Police background check system.

Under the law, the Illinois State Police will be tasked with identifying criminal records dating back to 1970 that are eligible for automatic sealing, while circuit court clerks across the state will be responsible for sealing the records and notifying local law enforcement agencies. The Pritzker administration estimates that automating the process, which will require an upgrade to state police records systems, will cost $20 million over five years, funds that lawmakers will have to approve as part of the state’s annual spending plan.

The measure, approved with mostly bipartisan support during the General Assembly’s fall veto session, was hailed by a broad array of lawmakers, criminal justice reform advocates, law enforcement officials and business groups during Friday’s signing ceremony.

“I know I’m supposed to have a little decorum, but, Mr. Governor, we’re at a celebratory event today,” advocate Sheena Meade, chief director of the Clean Slate Initiative, said as she stepped to the microphone.

“Clean slate!” Meade called out, turning to the audience.

“Can’t wait!” an enthusiastic group of supporters inside the cavernous tennis center replied.

“And it didn’t,” Meade said.

“This victory did not happen by accident and overnight,” Meade continued. “It was the result of tireless organizing, collaboration, power building, by advocates, lawmakers, community leaders. … Today, the red tape is cut.”

Democratic state Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth of Peoria, who sponsored the measure in the House, connected the potential impact of the new law to her own experience: A shoplifting conviction from when she was 18 was used against her in her first legislative campaign in 2008.

“When I decided to run for office for the first time, both opponents in that election cycle used it against me, once in the primary and again in the general,” Gordon-Booth said. “They spent over a million dollars telling the entire community, taking the worst thing that I had ever done in my life and told the story of me. But that wasn’t me. But that’s what happens when people have convictions: They are judged by the worst moment in their lives as though that is who they are.”

Gordon-Booth, who went on to win the election that year, said she “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 that same exact opportunity.

“This law is not about charity. It’s not about forgiveness,” she said. “This is about justice. This is about redemption.”

Since 2020, Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser, a Democrat, has run a program twice a year in which local attorneys help people who are eligible fill out the paperwork necessary to have their records sealed. Her office has never had trouble reaching the 50-person cap for each session, she said.

“This legislation is going to give that opportunity to millions of people so that they don’t have to face the burden of having to overcome a system where it’s difficult to find the paperwork, it’s difficult to fill out the paperwork, and it’s really difficult to be able to represent yourself,” Mosser said.

Noting frequent disagreements between law enforcement and some lawmakers over criminal justice issues, Mosser said, “Here, we in law enforcement agree this is exactly the way forward, and I’m very proud to have been a part of the team that helped to put this law into effect.”

While the measure was approved with some Republican support in both the House and the Senate, opposition from some GOP lawmakers remained.

Republican Sen. Steve McClure, a former prosecutor from the Springfield area, said during the fall session that, among other concerns, the measure could create situations where people who have been convicted of financial exploitation would have their records automatically sealed and then be able to work with elderly residents.

“We’re talking about issues where someone would be in a situation where they could deal with vulnerable people,” McClure said during a committee debate. “And those positions will be filled by employers that no longer have access to information that could cause someone to be victimized.”

For advocate Marlon Chamberlain, though, the significance of the new law is that it will give people who have already served their sentences a chance for a new start. It’s what he was looking for when he walked out of federal prison in 2012 after serving 13 years of a 20-year sentence for a drug crime, a record that will not be sealed under the Illinois law.

“‘Clean slate’ does not remove the accountability from what happened,” said Chamberlain, executive director of the Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments. “It simply acknowledges that at some point the punishment has to end.”