The Clean Slate Initiative is a campaign originally launched by the left-of-center Center for American Progress (CAP) in 2018 to push for state laws that automatically clear criminal records for most misdemeanors and some felonies if certain criteria are met. The group has launched state-level organizations in over a dozen states and is funded by left-of-center grantmakers including the W.K Kellogg Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, as well as right-of-center Koch Industries. ^{1 2}

Background

The Clean Slate Initiative was founded as a campaign of the Center for American Progress in 2018 as the Clean Slate Campaign. Since its founding, the focus of the campaign is to promote “clean slate” legislation at the state level, establishing processes to automatically clear criminal records for individuals who have gone a certain period of time without committing a crime. ^{3 4}    

The initiative used Pennsylvania’s clean slate law, which passed in June 2018, as the model to be replicated in other states. The group stated that between 70 to 100 million Americans had some form of criminal record and that most employers used digital background checks to weed out such candidates, claiming that “any criminal record—no matter how old or minor—can be a life sentence to poverty.” ⁵

Affiliated Organizations

When it launched, the Clean Slate Initiative’s partner organizations consisted of groups on both the left and right of the political spectrum. Organizations that praised the launch the Initiative included the Center for American Progress, Koch Industries, the Players Coalition, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Code for America. ⁶

Other partner organizations that contributed to the launch of the organization included the American Conservative Union Foundation, the Brennan Center for Justice, the Center for Employment Opportunities, the Economic Policy Institute, the Faith and Freedom Coalition, Freedom Partners (Stand Together), FreedomWorks, Generation Progress, the National Employment Law Project, the R Street Institute, Right on Crime, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation. ⁷

The group also received funding from MacKenzie Scott in 2022 as part of her initiative to provide over $3.6 billion in funding to left-of-center organizations. ⁸

Activity and Issue Stances

By the end of 2023, the Clean Slate Initiative-endorsed that had passed in 12 states, mostly by Democratic-controlled legislatures. The group also supports state-level Clean Slate Coalitions in eleven states. The group advocates for “expansive and comprehensive record clearance legislation,” but nonetheless supports laws that meet the group’s “minimum criteria” which include automatic record clearance upon eligibility, including of arrest and misdemeanor records. The group also notes that it makes a “strong recommendation for laws to include eligibility of at least one felony record.” ⁹

At the federal level, the group supports federal legislation to create a process for automatic clearance of federal criminal records. In the 118^th Congress (2023-2024), the group supported legislation, including The Clean Slate Act (H.R. 2930), to create a federal process that enables individuals to petition for clearance of low-level conviction records and supported another bill, The Fresh Start Act (H.R. 2983), to create a federal grant program for states to receive funding to implement clean slate laws. ¹⁰

1. “RELEASE: CAP and More Than 25 Partners Launch National Bipartisan ‘Clean Slate’ Initiative to Automate Clearing of Criminal Records.” Center for American Progress. November 15, 2018. Accessed January 21, 2024.  https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-cap-25-partners-launch-national-bipartisan-clean-slate-initiative-automate-clearing-criminal-records/
2. Wolfe, Dan. “Funders are Backing a Push to Clean Criminal Records, for many Involved It’s Personal. Inside Philanthropy. March 25, 2021. Accessed January 21, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2021/3/25/funders-are-backing-a-push-to-clean-criminal-records-for-many-involved-its-personal
3. “RELEASE: CAP and More Than 25 Partners Launch National Bipartisan ‘Clean Slate’ Initiative to Automate Clearing of Criminal Records.” Center for American Progress. November 15, 2018. Accessed January 21, 2024.  https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-cap-25-partners-launch-national-bipartisan-clean-slate-initiative-automate-clearing-criminal-records/
4. “States.” Clean Slate Initiative. Accessed January 21, 2024. https://www.cleanslateinitiative.org/states
5. “RELEASE: CAP and More Than 25 Partners Launch National Bipartisan ‘Clean Slate’ Initiative to Automate Clearing of Criminal Records.” Center for American Progress. November 15, 2018. Accessed January 21, 2024.  https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-cap-25-partners-launch-national-bipartisan-clean-slate-initiative-automate-clearing-criminal-records/
6. “RELEASE: CAP and More Than 25 Partners Launch National Bipartisan ‘Clean Slate’ Initiative to Automate Clearing of Criminal Records.” Center for American Progress. November 15, 2018. Accessed January 21, 2024.  https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-cap-25-partners-launch-national-bipartisan-clean-slate-initiative-automate-clearing-criminal-records/
7. “Home.” Clean Slate Campaign. Accessed via Wayback Machine January 21, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20190308072519/https://cleanslatecampaign.org/
8. Scott, MacKenzie. “Helping Any of Us Can Help Us All.” Medium. March 23, 2022. Accessed January 21, 2024. https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/helping-any-of-us-can-help-us-all-f4c7487818d9
9. “States.” Clean Slate Initiative. Accessed January 21, 2024. https://www.cleanslateinitiative.org/states
10. “Federal.” Clean Slate Initiative. Accessed January 21, 2024. https://www.cleanslateinitiative.org/federal