Michigan Clean Slate Intervening Conviction Rule: Why Automatic Expungement Was Blocked

Michigan's Clean Slate automatic sealing system has cleared more than five million convictions since April 2023. But an estimated 450,000 people who should be eligible remain locked out — because of a single rule.

The Intervening Conviction Bar

Under MCL 780.621g, the automatic no-new-conviction condition applies to eligible felonies and eligible misdemeanors punishable by 93 days or more. A new conviction recorded in the Michigan State Police database during the applicable seven-year misdemeanor or ten-year felony wait blocks automatic set-aside; a pending criminal charge in that database also blocks set-aside while pending. These conditions do not apply to misdemeanors punishable by 92 days or less.

For the covered felony and misdemeanor categories, a new conviction recorded during the wait blocks automatic sealing of the older record. A civil traffic infraction is not a criminal conviction.

The Legislative Attempt That Failed

During the 2023–2024 session, bipartisan House Bills 5957 and 5958 were introduced to eliminate the intervening conviction barrier for both automatic and petition-based expungement. The bills passed the House Criminal Justice Standing Committee but stalled in the Senate during the late-2024 lame-duck session.

Those bills did not change the rule; MCL 780.621g remains the governing statute.

Restitution and Set-Asides

Unpaid restitution remains enforceable after a set-aside. For an automatic set-aside, a court may reinstate the conviction only if it finds that the person has not made a good-faith effort to pay. An unpaid balance alone does not require reinstatement.

What You Can Do

If automatic sealing is blocked, a petition under MCL 780.621 may still be an option if you meet its separate requirements. A court cannot grant a petition while criminal charges are pending or if you were convicted of any criminal offense during the applicable waiting period. The "One Bad Night" bundling provision (MCL 780.621b) may reduce your conviction count if qualifying offenses arose from a single transaction within 24 hours.

The petition waiting periods are also shorter than the automatic sealing windows: three years for eligible misdemeanors other than serious misdemeanors, first-offense OWI, or assaultive crimes; five years for serious misdemeanors, a first-offense OWI, or one felony; and seven years for more than one felony. The dates used to calculate the wait depend on the category under MCL 780.621d.

If the automatic rule blocks a conviction, a petition may be another route if its separate requirements are met.

The Michigan Expungement & Record Sealing Guide includes an eligibility worksheet that accounts for intervening convictions, restitution obligations, and the petition requirements that still apply when automatic sealing is blocked.

See more Michigan guides →