The governor is arguing that it’s a First Amendment issue
Gov. Janet Mills vetoed legislation to adopt an automatic record sealing system for certain low-level crimes, which would have expanded the current petition-based process.
“Our criminal justice system has many pressing needs,” Mills wrote in her veto letter sent to the Legislature on Friday, “and I question whether the work required by this bill would burden an already overworked Judiciary and detract from efforts to protect public safety.”
Among several objections, the governor pointed out the bill’s more than $1 million annual price tag.
The bill, LD 1911, would have required seven new permanent hires to automate the process, including two judges. Given the legislation’s proposed effective date, lawmakers only funded those positions for the final three months of the current biennium but, as Mills noted, they would become part of the baseline budget inherited by the next Legislature.
These concerns about cost are not new.
When Maine began providing people convicted of now-legal marijuana crimes a path to get their records sealed two years ago, it didn’t cost the state any additional money, to the initial confusion of many. That was because the current process, which requires someone to petition the court to seal their conviction if they meet the legal requirements, is rarely used. An earlier proposal to automate record sealing also failed due to the price tag, among other objections.
Some of those other objections have also persisted, including concern that automatic sealing would violate the right of the public to access records of criminal proceedings under the First Amendment.
“It is difficult to see how LD 1911 could withstand constitutional review in federal court,” Mills wrote.
The governor cited a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit that suggests that sealing criminal records without conducting a case-by-case review of the circumstances violates the First Amendment, the same decision the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition, New England First Amendment Coalition and Maine Press Association cited in opposing the legislation earlier this session.
The legislation had excluded certain offenses from eligibility for sealing, such as assault and sex crimes, however Mills took issue with Class D crimes for domestic violence assault not being among the ineligible offenses.
Mills wrote that it was “apparently an oversight” but called it “plainly contrary to the public interest.”
Editor’s Note: Maine Press Association represents about 50 newspapers and digital news outlets in the state, including Maine Morning Star.
This article was reprinted from the Maine Morning Star under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. You can read the original version here.
