‘Clean Slate,’ housing top issues
Criminal records bill debated as legislative session nears end
ALBANY — Two of the top political issues under debate at the state Capitol — wiping criminal records and increasing housing — are on track to be settled in the final days of the legislative session that ends next week.
Democrats and criminal justice advocates say their push to seal certain criminal records is intended to improve the ability of New Yorkers to secure good paying jobs and stable housing. The measure is on the precipice of passing but the sweeping housing policies being championed by Gov. Kathy Hochul are expected to fall short of support.
New York’s top Democrats have recently signaled that an agreement has been reached on the “Clean Slate Act,” aside from remaining “technical” changes — an ominous caveat to advocates and lobbyists who watched their top priority fall apart in the final days of the legislative session last year.
Last year, the state Education Department raised last-minute concerns, which were quickly accounted for by the bill’s sponsors; then, more quietly, certain moderate, suburban Democrats in the Assembly, ahead of the election cycle, remained hesitant to support the proposed Clean Slate Act. Some of those Assembly Democrats still lost their reelection bids and have since either been replaced by relatively more progressive Democrats or by Republicans.
“I’m very optimistic,” Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie told reporters this week, a starkly different tone from what he expressed about the legislation last year.
The legislation could seal certain criminal records after a specific period after someone completes their sentence. The idea, advocates advance, is after a person serves their time they should not continue to be punished, which they say can perpetuate cycles of poverty and violence. The bill is carried by Brooklyn Sen. Zellnor Myrie. Some concessions in the most recent proposal would make the process unavailable to someone on probation or who is a convicted sex offender. Jobs that require a state or federal fingerprint background check, including employment with public schools, would still be able to access the sealed records.
Hochul has also expressed her support for Clean Slate, this week saying she believes “we’ll get this done before the end of session.” Hochul often notes the bill’s support from the state’s Business Council, which views it as a boon for the private sector that is in need of labor.
A version of Clean Slate was part of the governor’s budget proposal last year, but ultimately stripped from the plan. This year, despite Hochul’s support for the legislation, it was not included in her budget proposal — which was released following a bruising political defeat the governor suffered in the Senate over her failed first nomination for chief judge.
The state Senate, as it did last year, has already passed the legislation. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-cousins said that the bulk of a recent discussion with Hochul and Heastie focused on Clean Slate, as well as housing policies.
Both Stewart-cousins and Heastie have continually told reporters about their desire to couple any policies that would increase housing supplies with improvements to tenant protections.
“For us, it’s a matter of trying to do a number of things, not just one,” Stewart-cousins said Wednesday.
She dismissed questions that the housing issue is not moving forward as a “lack of engagement” among herself, Heastie and Hochul, but rather framed it as a “critical” issue without a simple solution. Heastie has couched the inactivity so far this session on housing as a challenge of working with a complicated policy.
“When you want to do transformational change,” Heastie said, “there needs to be time for a collective buy-in.”
Progressive advocates continue to push for statewide “good cause eviction,” legislation that would limit a landlord’s ability to evict a tenant for a variety of issues. It also could cap the amount a landlord can raise rent without being able to show the increases are to offset improvements or upkeep to the unit.
Many upstate cities, including Albany, have passed local versions of the legislation but judges have ruled that a state law must be put in place for the regulations to stand.
On some issues, Hochul has pointed to her experience in local government and her desire to have state government not step in the way of the will of local governments, including setting local speed limits. But on “good cause,” she has not taken a public stance on the legislation that landlord groups oppose.
Housing advocacy groups, such as Open New York, continue to push for “good cause” to pass. Andrew Fine, Open New York’s policy director, is also supporting legislation by state Sen. Rachel May, D-syracuse, that could help lower the costs of building small apartment buildings and discourage sprawl development.
“Stuff like that is not sexy, but it is really important in terms of solving the housing crisis,” Fine said.
Open New York is also seeking an extension of New York City’s “421a” tax program that intends to incentivize builders to create “affordable housing.”
Democratic lawmakers in New York City have typically opposed the program, criticizing it as not developing truly affordable housing and potentially causing displacement of existing residents in low-income neighborhoods. Albany insiders assert that lawmakers are unlikely to pass any type of extension of 421a — which Hochul has requested — without a version of more robust tenant protections that Democrats in the Legislature are seeking.