On The Eve Of Legal Weed Launch, CT Gov. Lamont Introduces Automatic Expungement Technology

On New Year's Day, Governor Ned Lamont (D) announced that thousands of Connecticut residents convicted of cannabis possession will have their records cleared in an automated erasure method. “Especially as employers seek to fill job openings, an old conviction for low-level possession should not hold someone back from their aspirations,” he said.

“Clean Slate and Cannabis Erasure” Site

On Monday, gathered at the Reentry Welcome Center in Hartford, Gov. Lamont, the lieutenant governor and state lawmakers hailed the launch of the “Clean Slate and Cannabis Erasure” online portal to facilitate more cannabis record sealing, reported a local news outlet.

Gov. Lamont said that it’s been an “honor trying to do everything we can to take barriers out of the way” for those with prior cannabis convictions. “If you believe in public safety, if you believe in hope, if you believe in criminal justice, believe in giving people that second chance, erasure of this—a clean slate—makes a difference.” 

Gov. Lamont tweeted this on January 9:

"Under a new state law that went into effect on January 1, our administration has marked 43,754 low-level cannabis convictions as erased.
An old conviction for possession should not hold someone back from pursuing their career, housing, professional, and educational aspirations. pic.twitter.com/sKjC0cOaFk

— Governor Ned Lamont (@GovNedLamont) January 9, 2023"

The move was taken just one day before CT's recreational market will launch. On Tuesday around 10 a.m. more than a half dozen retailers across the state will open their doors and begin cannabis.

“It’s a first step. But to have tens of thousands of people have their criminal records erased is huge because it means that those families now have many more opportunities,” Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz (D) said. “It is unacceptable that people of color, Black people who comprise 10 percent of our population, have 35 percent of those erasures. This is a small step but an important step.”

Marc Pelka, undersecretary of the state Office of Policy and Management added: “The petition is for particular older offenses that are not capable of being erased under electronic systems.” He noted that the website makes the process “pretty straightforward” for those whose records weren’t automatically sealed.

Officials stressed that the first step is to check the portal to determine the status of each individual case. The site allows people to download the required forms and also guides them through the process.

Those with a broader range of minor convictions will be able to ask a judge to seal their records under separate legislation, Lamont concluded.

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Photo: Benzinga edit from Office of Governor Ned Lamont on Wikimedia Commons and Alesia Kozik on Pexels