Bipartisan plan gives reformed citizens access to better job opportunities

The Michigan House today approved state Rep. Luke Meerman’s plan to expand expungement laws and give hundreds of thousands of residents with old minor criminal convictions a new opportunity to start fresh.

Meerman, of Coopersville, said the innovative proposal would make Michigan a leader in criminal justice reform.

“People who have already paid their punishments for bad decisions in the past need to be able to move on with their lives,” Meerman said. “These reforms will help people earn a decent living, obtain stable housing and access education and training opportunities to help them build a better future.”

A University of Michigan Law School study published earlier this year found people whose criminal records are cleared tend to experience a sharp upturn in their wage and employment trajectories. On average, wages went up by 25 percent within two years of the expungement.

Meerman said these results were observed under Michigan’s current expungement law, which is very narrow in scope. Right now, only individuals with one felony or two misdemeanors qualify, and they must wait a minimum of five years before they can start the process.

Meerman’s bill would require judges to expunge marijuana convictions if the behavior that led to the conviction is allowed under current law.

“Many people have misdemeanor marijuana convictions from their pasts that are still coming back to haunt them – even though that activity is now considered legal,” Meerman said. “This plan will grant them access to new avenues of employment, particularly in skilled professions with strict licensing rules.”

Other pieces of the plan would:

• Expand the number of people who qualify for expungement.
• Make most traffic offenses eligible for expungement.
• Shorten the eligibility period for expungement.
• Establish automatic expungement for certain offenses.

House Bills 4980-4985 and 5120 now advance to the Senate for consideration.

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