May 3, 2024 The Governor of Massachusetts recently pardoned individuals charged with simple marijuana possession. Following this decision, the Governor’s Council unanimously shared their approval and support for pardoning these records. As a result, anyone charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana before March 13, 2024, will see these crimes immediately cleared from their records. After receiving approval from the Governor’s Council, Governor Healey announced that Massachusetts had made history and thanked the council for their part in it. In the statement, she announced the following ..read more

May 2, 2024 Minnesota officials plan to provide thousands of individuals with expungement relief in the coming months. According to the legislation that passed in 2023, these expungements would cover low-level marijuana convictions. The Minnesota Legislature passed the Adult-Use Cannabis Act and the Clean Slate Act in 2023. The state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has worked on this plan since then. According to the Bureau, they have worked on determining which records qualify for the legislation’s automatic expungement process.  The Bureau estimated that 66,000 records for misdemean ..read more

May 1, 2024 Identity theft has proven to be a significant issue in the United States. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2023 received reports of over 23.9 million U.S. residents suffered from identity theft in 2021. This report revealed the number included ages starting from sixteen and older.  Many cases have revealed that the victim did not know about the crime for long periods. One example concerns financial identity theft, which can go unnoticed for months or years. Though it is common sense to protect credit card numbers and other financial information, hackers and thi ..read more

April 30, 2024 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released data indicating that consumers reported losing over $10 billion to fraud in 2023. According to the FTC, consumers lost 14% more in 2023 than in 2022, becoming the highest amount lost to fraud thus far. The FTC revealed investment scams saw the most losses at over $4.6 billion for 2023. This loss is 21% more than 2022’s investment scam losses. Imposter scams resulted in the second largest losses, with individuals losing $2.7 billion. Fraud also proved a significant problem, especially with online shopping, sweepstakes, and job opp ..read more

April 29, 2024 The Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced changes to the loan program’s restrictions concerning an applicant’s criminal history. According to the SBA’s administrator, the federal agency intends to ban the restrictions on those with criminal backgrounds. This decision could benefit those with criminal records who want to start or expand a business. However, interested parties must complete their sentences to qualify for the loan programs. The new rules by the Small Business Administration would remove most restrictions on loan programs based on an applicant’s crimin ..read more

April 22, 2024 Massachusetts has decided to pardon offenders charged with simple marijuana possession. As announced by Governor Healey, “I am exercising my executive power as governor under the Massachusetts Constitution, subject to approval by the Governor’s Council, to pardon all misdemeanor convictions for marijuana possession on record in our state.” This is the first state to do so since President Biden decided to grant pardons to federal offenders charged with simple marijuana possession. Though the Governor’s Council approved the pardons and unanimously supported the effort, they voic ..read more

April 14, 2024 Representatives from Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont’s administration have announced another delay. This delay affects the state’s Clean Slate law, once again preventing its full implementation from taking effect. As such, those hoping for automatic expungements from the Clean Slate law must wait longer. This delay follows an announcement from three months ago about the law taking effect in January 2024. Had it begun, it would have expunged the misdemeanors and felonies of over 80,000 individuals. According to the representatives, the state has successfully cleared the records ..read more

April 18, 2024 The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced its settlement agreement with a private security services provider. This agreement addressed allegations of the provider discriminating against non-U.S. citizens.  According to the case, the company violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) when verifying employees’ ability to work in the U.S. via the employment eligibility verification (Form I-9) process. As a result of this case, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division made the following statement concerning the I-9 process ..read more

April 16, 2024 Massachusetts legislators intend to pass legislation prohibiting employers from using credit reports for employment. As such, the Massachusetts House of Representatives recently passed a bill to amend the state’s consumer protection law. The bill is called “An Act Reducing Barriers to Employment Through Credit Discrimination” (H. 1434) and will soon undergo review by the Senate.  If passed into law, H. 1434 would address employers’ requests for and acquired reports from consumer reporting agencies. In most cases, it would bar employers from obtaining a report with any bea ..read more

April 11, 2024 Vermont legislators have returned to discuss reforming the state’s existing expungement system. They will also discuss expanding the ability for residents to seal old criminal records. However, this attempt closely resembles a similar measure that Governor Phill Scott vetoed almost two years ago. Vermont currently offers two methods for individuals to limit or remove access to their criminal records: expungement and sealing. Expunging records effectively eliminates the recorded criminal history, making it appear like it never happened. Sealing removes the record from public ac ..read more