States Accelerate Automatic Expungement Push as Michigan Clears 1.6 Million Records

Michigan's landmark clean slate law has crossed a significant threshold — state officials announced that more than 1.6 million criminal records have been cleared since the law took effect. The milestone underscores a national shift away from person-initiated expungement petitions toward automatic, government-administered record clearing — and other states are moving quickly to follow Michigan's lead.

Michigan's law, which took effect in 2021, allows certain felonies and misdemeanors to be automatically sealed after a waiting period without requiring the individual to file anything. The state prioritized low-level drug offenses and crimes that did not involve violence. The result has been one of the most aggressive record-clearing efforts in the country — and a model that other legislatures are now citing when drafting their own clean slate bills.

In 2026 alone, at least twelve states have passed legislation either creating new automatic expungement programs or expanding existing ones. Utah and Montana enacted clean slate laws earlier this year. Kentucky is weighing a proposal that would automatically seal simple marijuana possession convictions after five years without a new offense. Missouri's legislature sent a bill to the governor that would automatically expunge eligible drug offenses — bypassing the petition process entirely for qualifying convictions.

Why the Shift Toward Automatic Clearing

Traditional expungement requires individuals to file petitions, pay filing fees, and navigate court procedures — often without access to a lawyer. Studies have consistently found that the complexity and cost of the process creates substantial barriers, particularly for low-income residents who are most in need of record clearing. Many people who qualify for expungement never complete the process simply because they do not know they are eligible or cannot afford the fees.

Automatic expungement removes those barriers by shifting the responsibility to the state. Instead of requiring the individual to take action, the government identifies eligible records and seals them on a set schedule. Proponents argue this approach is more equitable and more effective at reducing the collateral consequences of criminal records — including barriers to housing, employment, and public benefits.

The movement has drawn support from both sides of the political aisle. Conservatives cite the economic benefits of reducing barriers to employment. Liberals point to the racial equity implications — Black and Latino Americans are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system and in the population of people with records that create employment barriers. The Mack Institute at Temple University and the Brennan Center for Justice have published research showing that automatic sealing programs dramatically increase the number of records cleared compared to petition-based systems.

What Michigan's Milestone Shows

Reaching 1.6 million records cleared in Michigan means roughly one in seven adults in the state has had a criminal record sealed. The practical effect on employment and housing is significant — background checks run by employers and landlords in Michigan will no longer surface those records in most cases.

The state's approach has not been without complications. Implementation delays plagued the early rollout, particularly in coordinating between the state courts, the Department of Corrections, and the Secretary of State to correctly identify and seal eligible records. Advocates say some people with eligible records are still falling through the cracks due to data-sharing gaps between agencies.

Michigan also faced pushback from some law enforcement groups who argued that automatic clearing did not give prosecutors sufficient notice to object to individual records. Those concerns led to some modifications to the law's implementation, including a provision allowing prosecutors to flag certain cases for additional review before sealing.

What's Next Across the Country

Looking ahead, several states are positioning clean slate measures as a response to ongoing workforce shortages. Employers in industries like manufacturing, hospitality, and logistics have increasingly pushed for expungement reforms as a way to expand the available labor pool. Several states have referenced this economic argument directly in their legislative findings.

Illinois is also in the early stages of implementing its Clean Slate Act, which will automatically seal certain nonviolent felony records beginning in 2029. Delaware's program, which was approved in prior years, has faced significant delays — advocates have criticized the state police for failing to meet implementation deadlines, leaving thousands of eligible individuals waiting for their records to be sealed.

Federal activity remains limited, though the Second Chance Act has continued to fund record-clearing programs at the state and local level. Advocacy groups are pushing for a federal standard that would require states to automatically seal certain records as a condition of receiving certain criminal justice funding — similar to the way federal highway funds were tied to lowering the drinking age in the 1980s.

What This Means for People With Records

For individuals with criminal records, the trend toward automatic expungement means that some records may be sealed without any action on their part. However, the specifics of which convictions are eligible and when they become eligible vary significantly from state to state. Most clean slate laws apply only to specific categories — typically nonviolent offenses, drug offenses, and records that meet certain age or time-since-conviction requirements.

Violent felonies, sex offenses, and certain DUI convictions remain ineligible for automatic sealing in most states. And even in states with automatic laws, the process can take years — records are typically sealed on a schedule, not immediately upon eligibility.

The best approach for anyone with a record remains understanding the specific laws in their state and, where applicable, filing a petition proactively rather than waiting for an automatic process that may take additional years to reach them. Resources like Clean Slate Guide can help people understand what is available in their state and what steps they may need to take to clear their record.