Does California Clear Your Criminal Record Automatically? (SB 731)

California does clear many convictions without anyone filing anything. The Department of Justice reviews its records monthly and grants relief where the rules are met. What it does not do is make the record disappear.

At the Law Offices of William W. Bruzzo, an Orange County criminal defense attorney checks what relief a record already received before anyone files a petition.

What Does Automatic Relief Under SB 731 Actually Do?

SB 731 became Chapter 814 of the Statutes of 2022 and extended automatic relief to most felony convictions. Penal Code 1203.425 directs the Department of Justice to review the statewide criminal justice databases monthly and to grant relief, including dismissal of a conviction, “without requiring a petition or motion by a party.”

One date matters more than the bill’s own. AB 168 pushed the start to October 1, 2024, and the statute reads that way now. Relief also leaves a mark, a note stating “relief granted” next to the entry.

Who Qualifies and Who Is Left Out?

Eligibility runs on three timing routes plus hard exclusions.

• Probation cases. The term appears completed without revocation, for convictions from 1973 forward.
• Misdemeanors and infractions. The sentence is complete and a year has passed since judgment.
• Felonies. All incarceration and supervision complete and four years passed with no new felony conviction. Serious felonies, violent felonies and registerable offenses are excluded from this route.
• Anyone required to register as a sex offender is excluded outright, as is anyone still serving a sentence or facing pending charges.

Who Can Still See a Record That Was Cleared?

More people than most articles admit. Relief bars the court from disclosing the conviction to anyone but the person and a criminal justice agency, and the statute then carves out settings where it still counts.

Police, prosecutors and the courts keep full access. Peace officer applications, public office, personal care services and state lottery contracting still require disclosure to a direct question. Care facility licensing agencies may act on the history, and school districts, charter schools and the teacher credentialing commission receive convictions under Penal Code 11105 regardless of relief granted. In a later prosecution the prior may be pleaded and proved as though relief never issued.

Conviction relief and arrest relief also part ways, and sealing an arrest record where charges were dropped follows its own statute.

Do You Still Have to Tell an Employer?

For ordinary private employment, no. Labor Code 432.7 bars an employer from asking about, seeking out or using a conviction dismissed under Penal Code 1203.425, which the statute names by number.

Two limits go with that. Relief does not restore firearm rights, since the statute says it does not affect authorization to own or possess one. Relief is also a dismissal rather than an erasure, so anyone outside the automatic rules still needs the petition route, alongside the other ways to clean up a California record.

Have an Orange County Criminal Defense Lawyer Confirm What Your Record Shows

The fastest way to know is to order your own state record, since the “relief granted” note either appears next to the entry or it does not. Attorney Will Bruzzo brings more than 30 years of Orange County practice and service as a Marine Corps Judge Advocate. Call the Law Offices of William W. Bruzzo at (714) 547-4636 or contact us online to learn what still shows. El Abogado Habla Español.