Over 1 million Ohioans with criminal records are eligible to have their records sealed: What are we waiting for? 

Published July 2024 in Policy Pulse, A Towards Employment Newsletter
Article written by guest author Patrick Higgins

The Getting Rehabilitated Ohioans Working (“GROW”) Act, House Bill 460, is a legislative solution to an issue that is widespread throughout Ohio: the pervasiveness of criminal records long after a person has served whatever penalty was imposed for their conviction. We call the lasting impacts of contact with the criminal legal system collateral sanctions. Collateral sanctions are not part of a person’s sentence but show up among the hundreds of restrictions on things like employment or in less formal ways like stigma. This may include restrictions on everything from occupational licensing to a person’s ability to chaperone a child’s field trip. Collateral sanctions span far and wide and they generally do not go away until a person seals their record. When a criminal record is sealed, a person may treat it as though it no longer exists, and it becomes inaccessible to most members of the public.

The GROW Act makes the record sealing process less difficult by making it semi-automatic. While it would not change record sealing eligibility, the bill does take the burden off the person who wants to have their record sealed. This is an important step because the record sealing process is more burdensome than many realize. Consider the following likely steps for a record sealing applicant (which are done with or without the help of an attorney): 1) Determine that they want to have a record sealed; 2) Determine whether or not they are eligible for record sealing (only after the person has met eligibility criteria such as paying outstanding fines and restitution); 3) Fill out a record sealing petition; 4) File the petition(s) by paying a filing fee or by asking the court to waive the filing; 5) Prepare for a record sealing hearing (with or without the help of an attorney); 6) Take time off for a record sealing hearing (keep in mind that, if the petitioner is an hourly worker, that this time is likely unpaid); 7) Secure and pay for childcare (if applicable) for the date of a record sealing hearing; and 8) Attend the record sealing hearing and advocate for record sealing.

Instead, the GROW Act tasks Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation with compiling a list of sealing-eligible records and forwarding it to courts and their prosecutors. Under the as-introduced version of the GROW Act, prosecutors then have 90 days to review the record and object to the sealing of the record. If there is no objection, the court would then proceed with sealing the criminal record. Further, following the sealing of a criminal record, an employer is provided with immunity from negligence claims related to an employee’s sealed records.

Over one million Ohioans stand to have their records sealed by the GROW Act. This is why we see a broad range of organizations and individuals supporting the bill and its potential impact on applicants and employers alike. The bill currently sits in the House Criminal Justice Committee and needs to pass the House and Senate before being signed by the Governor to become law.