Maine’s Legislature last week passed two bills to expand eligibility for sealing criminal records, Maine Morning Star reports. One allows for the sealing of cannabis crimes now legal under the state’s adult cannabis use law, while the other lowers the age requirements.
Lawmakers had initially sought to make the sealing process for cannabis-related crimes automatic but the effort faced resistance from opponents who argued the process would violate the right of public access to criminal proceedings under the First Amendment, and that it would be costly – totaling $633,185 for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the report says. Lawmakers ultimately approved a measure that allows people to apply to have convictions for now-legal cannabis crimes sealed, which was signed into law by Gov. Janet Mills (D) on April 16.
The bill allowing the sealing of cannabis crimes adds convictions that are no longer crimes due to Maine’s adult-use cannabis law to the state law’s definition of an “eligible criminal conviction,” making those with such convictions eligible to file a post-judgment motion to seal that criminal history record information.
Each bill was based on a January 2024 report from the Legislature’s Criminal
