Colorado Clean Slate Act

Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed the Clean Slate Act into law on May 31, 2022, making Colorado the seventh state to pass this law.  The purpose of this law is to help individuals with a criminal history improve their chances of obtaining employment by automatically sealing certain arrest records.

The records that are eligible for sealing:

•  If the judgment is for a civil infraction, and four years have passed since the final disposition of the case

• If the judgment is for a petty offense or misdemeanor, and 7 years have passed since the final disposition of the case

• If the judgment is for a felony and 10 years have passed since the final disposition or release from jail. 

Violent crimes, such as murder, assault, sexual assault and robbery, will not be eligible for sealing.

The key word here is “eligible”.  That means that an individual no longer needs to obtain an attorney and go before a judge to get their judgment sealed.  However, don’t assume that the process has taken place in the time frame provided by the eligibility rules.  The courts and various entities still have to go through the physical process of sealing the records.  Check with the county court that handed down your judgment.

Additionally, if you have incurred another infraction in any of the 3 categories mentioned above, during the waiting period, you are no longer eligible to get the previous judgment sealed.  (For example, if the 4 years waiting period is up for a civil judgment, but, during that 4 years, you received an additional infraction, the previous judgment is no longer eligible to be sealed.)