On October 12, 2020, Governor Whitmer signed a package of bipartisan legislation informally referred to as the Clean Slate Bill that reforms Michigan’s criminal expungement laws, MCL 780.621 et seq.. The legislation makes it easier for individuals to have certain felony and misdemeanor convictions removed from their record. 2020 PA 193 (eff. Apr 11, 2021).

Specific changes include the following:

• creation by the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget of a computer-based program for setting aside eligible misdemeanors after 7 years and eligible non-assaultive felonies after 10 years
• increase in the number and types of felonies, misdemeanors, and traffic offenses that are eligible to be set aside
• allowance of multiple felonies or misdemeanors arising from the same transaction to be considered a single felony or misdemeanor conviction if the offenses all took place in the same 24-hour period, are not assaultive crimes, do not involve the possession or use of a dangerous weapon, and do not carry a penalty of 10 or more years in prison
• allowance of an individual to set aside one or more marijuana offenses if the offense(s) would not have been a crime if committed after the legalization of adult-use marijuana in Michigan in 2018