Lawmakers agree records related to marijuana crimes should be sealed, though not automatically

With marijuana legal in Maine for several years now, lawmakers are in favor of allowing people to have marijuana-related criminal records sealed, though it would be something they would have to apply for. 

On Wednesday, the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee voted in favor of LD 2236, which would add convictions for marijuana possession and cultivation to the list of crimes that people can apply to seal. However, the committee voted down LD 2269, which would automatically seal criminal record information for marijuana-related crimes that are no longer illegal. 

These bills are among four proposals recommended by the Criminal Records Review Committee this session. Earlier this week, the Judiciary Committee cast favorable votes for the other two recommendations, one to remove age requirements to apply to seal criminal records and another to to make the review committee permanent, a nod to the additional work that remains. 

The votes on each bill follow sentiment shared during the joint public hearing earlier in March: overwhelmingly favorable, aside from LD 2269, which would automatically seal or make confidential criminal records for convictions for marijuana possession and related crimes committed from January 1, 2001 to January 30, 2017, the effective date of Maine’s first adult use cannabis law.

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Judith Meyer of the Maine Press Association argued that automatically sealing records would violate the right of the public to access records of criminal proceedings under the First Amendment, in contrast to the other two record-sealing bills that would keep some documentation of a conviction in the public domain by requiring a post-judgment motion review process.

While Rep. Matthew Beck (D-South Portland) said Wednesday he was sensitive to the First Amendment concern, it did not outweigh his concern about an inequitable burden created by necessitating people proactively arrange to have their records sealed. 

“That’s going to be a class of people who have greater access to information, perhaps legal representation,” Beck said of those likely to apply, “and the people at the low end of the economic ladder who are struggling are likely going to be left out if they just don’t know about it.”

The majority of the Judiciary Committee recommended against the Legislature pursuing automatic record sealing at this time — a 7-3 vote, with four members absent. 

While joining the majority Wednesday, Rep. Erin Sheehan (D-Biddeford), who was part of the Criminal Records Review Committee, had declined to vote on the issue during that committee’s work because she could not square the benefits and drawbacks.  

“I do want the public to have access to, and pretty full access to, the decisions that the government makes about crimes,” Sheehan said. “It’s definitely a balancing act, because I also take very seriously the harms that come to people because of the way that these records persist.”

Sheehan said she’s open to exploring other solutions but did not think the bill before the committee was workable, particularly noting concerns from Maine’s Judicial Branch about resources. 

“It is clear that extensive sealing of records cannot be done without significant additional resources in order to avoid transferring court clerk’s from their existing duties processing existing pending cases,” said Julie Finn, judicial branch analyst, during the public hearing. “Doing so would of course worsen the backlog.” 

As outlined in the bill, the Department of Public Safety, Bureau of State Police and State Bureau of Identification would be tasked to complete monthly reviews of criminal record information to determine if any convictions qualify for automatic sealing. There is currently no fiscal note for the bill, but the State Bureau of Investigation has informed them it would likely be “substantial.”

One of the three favorable votes, Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Auburn), who also served on the Criminal Records Review Committee, was not convinced by concerns about potential resource strain. 

“I think considering the fact that these individuals should never have been prosecuted were it not for these unjust laws in the first place, I think that taking care of that automatically is the least we can do,” Brakey said. 

While the path forward for automatically sealing criminal records for now-legal marijuana crimes is steep, adding these convictions to the list of crimes that people can apply to have sealed has garnered strong support. 

The Judiciary Committee voted 10-0, with four members absent, on Wednesday in favor of LD 2236, which adds to the state law definition of “eligible criminal conviction” that crimes no longer considered illegal under Maine’s adult use cannabis law are eligible for a person to file a post-judgment motion to seal criminal history record information. 

Editor’s Note: Maine Press Association represents about 50 newspapers and digital news outlets in the state, including Maine Morning Star.