A bipartisan coalition in the U.S. Congress wants to give a second chance to Americans arrested for non-violent federal crimes related to possession of marijuana.
Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a liberal Democrat from Delaware, and Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, a conservative Republican from western Pennsylvania, on Monday re-introduced the Clean Slate Act. If passed, the bill would automatically seal the federal criminal records of people arrested for minor federal cannabis offenses.
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,” said Ms. Blunt Rochester 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.”
In Pennsylvania, about a third of working-age citizens have criminal records, said Mr. Reschenthaler, a former district judge who is a current member of the House Judiciary Committee.
