HARRISBURG — Legislative efforts succeeded in advancing changes to how probation is administered in Pennsylvania, as it did for further sealing nonviolent criminal records, as state lawmakers passed reform measures through the General Assembly and onto Gov. Josh Shapiro.
The governor is expected to sign the bills that each advanced to his desk in a hyperactive end to the first half of the 2023-24 Legislative Session.
Senate Bill 838 proposes extensive changes to probation in terms of conditions, technical violations, and orders to modify, revoke or terminate a probation sentence.
Among the changes, courts can consider an individual’s child-care responsibilities, employment or ongoing pursuit of education in setting probation terms. Jailing offenders for technical violations is limited. Probation review conferences could bring early termination of probation in 2 years for misdemeanors and 4 years for felonies, or half of the sentence in both respects, whichever is sooner.
Approximately 95,000 people were on probation in Pennsylvania at the start of 2022, according to the latest data available from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
“It’s going to help Pennsylvanians rebuild their lives and meaningfully contribute to their communities, making our justice system more fair, more effective and more just,” Shapiro said at a late-night press conference Wednesday celebrating bipartisan efforts to finalize the current fiscal year’s budget more than five months after the statutory deadline.
The bill’s terms were pursued for five years by advocates including REFORM Alliance and its co-chair, Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill. It has detractors, too, like the ACLU of Pennsylvania which disputes its effectiveness and asserts that it fails to address structural deficiencies within the probation system.
The bill first cleared the Senate in June during the initial budget push but languished in the House through the summer and fall where, as it did in the Senate, amendments were proposed and approved. With budget negotiations bearing fruit this week, the bill was amended a final time before being pushed through the House by a vote of 178-25 on Wednesday. Hours later, the Senate approved the House amendments by a vote of 48-2, sending the bill to Shapiro.
House Bill 689 will expand the initiatives established under Pennsylvania’s existing Clean Slate law. Like the probation reform bill and, really, all others pushed through Wednesday night, it moved slowly in summer and fall before rapidly advancing Wednesday — 47-3 in the Senate, 153-50 in the House.
The law allows certain nonviolent misdemeanor and summary offenses to be sealed after 10 years, as it currently stands. Terms include that the petitioner hasn’t been convicted again within that period. Once a record is sealed, an arrest and conviction can be treated as if it had never occurred.
When the bill is signed as expected, certain third-degree felonies will be added for potential sealing including drug offenses like possession and distribution as well as theft, forgery and criminal mischief.
And, the wait period will be cut to seven years to seal a misdemeanor offense and five years for a summary offense.
“When we first passed Clean Slate in 2018, I promised that we would come back and get felonies included. Promises made, promises kept,” state Rep. Jordan Harris, D-Philadelphia, posted on the social media app, X.
Harris and Republican Rep. Sheryl Delozier of Cumberland County co-sponsored the bill. The probation reform measure was bipartisan, too: Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Delaware/Philadelphia, Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne/Pike/Susquehanna/Wayne/Wyoming, and Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Beaver/Greene/Washington, were prime sponsors.