Grand Rapids Reporter

The City of Grand Rapids’ Office of Oversight and Public Accountability (OPA) in conjunction with several community partners is set to host a Clean Slate GR Expungement Fair on April 2 at the Center for Community Transformation.

According to the City of Grand Rapids website, OPA officials will gather at the daylong event (8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m.) with cosponsors including Cascade Engineering, Center for Community Transformation, Cure Violence, Floyd Skinner Bar Association, Safe and Just Michigan, West Michigan Legal Aid and the National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA).

Those interested had to register at the "City's Clean" Slate website before March 28. The site details expungement eligibility, benefits of attending and event expectations, while also providing forms for registration and volunteer signup.

Signed into law in 2020, the state’s new “Clean Slate” law allows state residents to expunge eligible criminal records. The law also leads to automatic expungement by 2023, the website said. As enacted, Clean Slate currently allows up to three felonies to be set aside in a lifetime and places a no-lifetime limit on misdemeanors. The measure also reduces the waiting period for expungement to three years for misdemeanors and permits applications for multiple felonies after seven years.

As a result of this law, which took effect on April 11, 2021, Michigan is considered a national leader in criminal record-sealing policy in harmony with OPA's plans for equity in the justice system, according to the website.

In addition, the website said, Clean Slate makes first-time offenders of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) and Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) convictions (in which no one was injured), eligible to seek expungement five years after their probation ends, while also paving the way for all misdemeanors for marijuana possession and usage eligible for expungement, impacting somewhere in the neighborhood of a quarter-million people.

“I am excited to work in partnership with community to help ensure that Grand Rapidians have access to obtaining a clean slate, OPA Director Brandon Davis said. “This expungement program is one of the restorative justice efforts that OPA is implementing to advance equity and justice in our criminal justice and public safety systems. This will make a positive impact on the lives of members of our community, and that is what this work is all about.”

The City’s Clean Slate Expungement Fair will also assist with skill building for job interviews, provide resume reviews and distribute information on a variety of available community resources. Agencies representing veterans services, voting rights, food pantries, substance abuse treatment, housing and shelter all will be on hand for the event.