TESTIMONY FOR LD 1911
LD 1911: An Act to Automatically Seal Criminal History Record Information for Certain Crimes
Assigned Committee: Joint Committee on the Judiciary
Public hearing date: January 15th, 2026
Maine Green Independent Party urges the Judiciary Committee to vote Ought to Pass (OTP) on LD 1911
Good afternoon, Chairs Sen. Carney, Rep. Kuhn and distinguished Members of the Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary. Thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of LD 1911, “The Clean Slate Act” (“An Act to Automatically Seal Criminal History Record Information for Certain Crimes”).
My name is Kelly Merrill and I’m here today in my capacity as the Co-Chair of the Maine Green Independent Party, representing 37K members statewide.
Twenty-five percent of Mainers have a criminal record. That record continues to punish people long after they’ve completed their sentence, creating permanent barriers to education, jobs, and housing. And though there is some form of record relief, it’s largely inaccessible to most people, creating a two-tiered system of justice, creating unjust inequities. And as bill sponsor Sen. Talbot-Ross said earlier, half of criminal cases result in non-conviction but still appear on one’s record.
This is an issue of restorative justice and it is an issue of racial justice. For example, Black people in Maine are incarcerated at a rate of over 9 times higher than white people. Automating record relief will help reduce this shameful disparity.
The Clean Slate Act would provide relief to an estimated 163K Mainers, enabling them to achieve more stability and security in a hostile world. Data shows that average quarterly wages rise about 23% within a year of record sealing.
I’d like to put this into some context. We are living in a time when people, everyday people, are getting squeezed in every part of their lives. There is an astonishing rise of people who are living on the edge or who have fallen off. The edge of poverty, the edge of homelessness, the edge of despair. People struggle to earn enough to live. It’s often not enough to retain housing, not enough to feed or clothe our kids, not enough for medical care, not enough to survive. A 23% increase in earnings could have a significant impact on people’s lives.
Sealing records will also free people from re-experiencing the shame of their mistakes and the weight of that anchor that punishes them over and over and over again.
We respectfully urge this committee to vote LD 1911 OTP and join the 13 other states plus the District of Columbia in providing Mainers with much needed record relief.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelly F. Merrill
Co-Chair, Maine Green Independent Party
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