Yes. Under SB 731, many Californians with eligible convictions or arrests that never led to conviction can get those records sealed, either automatically through the Department of Justice or by filing a petition in court. Sex offenses and several other categories stay ineligible, and even sealed records remain visible to law enforcement, prosecutors, and certain licensing agencies.
TL;DR:
- Automatic sealing under SB 731 generally applies to many felonies after sentence completion, but sex offenses and serious violent felonies remain ineligible.
- Eligibility depends on completing all court-imposed requirements and varies by case type, with arrests often eligible shortly after case closure.
- Automatic relief is not guaranteed and can be delayed or blocked by data errors, incomplete records, or unresolved probation terms; petitions can bypass these issues.
- Sealing restricts public access but does not delete records; law enforcement, prosecutors, and certain agencies can still see sealed information, especially for sex offenses requiring registration.
- Verifying your relief status and acting quickly with legal help is essential, especially when facing deadlines or complex case histories.
Table of Contents
- What is SB 731 record relief and how did it change California law?
- Who qualifies for SB 731 eligibility and how long does it take?
- Automatic relief vs. petition-based relief: which one applies to you?
- What SB 731 record relief does not do
- How to get record relief under SB 731: step-by-step actions
- How Gracelegalgroup helps with SB 731 record relief
- Why professional help matters with SB 731
- Where to verify your SB 731 status
- Sources
What is SB 731 record relief and how did it change California law?
SB 731 rewrote how California handles old convictions by widening two existing tools instead of inventing a brand-new system. It pushes automatic sealing further into felony territory and strengthens the petition process for people whose cases the state’s computers don’t catch on their own. The bill grew out of the Clean Slate Initiative, a movement now active in eight states aimed at cutting the employment and housing barriers a criminal record creates long after a sentence ends.
Before SB 731, automatic relief mostly covered lower-level misdemeanors and specific arrest scenarios. The law extended that automatic path to additional felony convictions and to arrests that never resulted in a conviction at all. It did not touch certain categories the legislature carved out on purpose.
- Newly automatic: many qualifying felony convictions once a person’s sentence and any parole or PRCS period are complete.
- Also automatic: arrests where no charges were filed or charges were dismissed.
- Still excluded: sex offenses requiring registration and a handful of serious violent felonies.
- Still requires a petition in many cases: records the DOJ’s data systems can’t fully verify.
The Department of Justice carries the operational weight here, running monthly batch reviews of eligible records under Penal Code sections 851.93 and 1203.425, as detailed in the agency’s own automatic record relief guidance.
Who qualifies for SB 731 eligibility and how long does it take?
Eligibility comes down to two things: what you were convicted of, and whether you’ve finished everything the court ordered. Completing your sentence, probation, and any parole or post release community supervision is the baseline requirement across almost every category of relief.
The waiting periods vary by case type, and the SB 731 eligibility criteria lean heavily on Penal Code mechanics that predate the bill:
- Arrests without conviction: often eligible for sealing shortly after the case closes, sometimes under Penal Code 851.91 for partial sealing.
- Misdemeanors and many felonies: typically eligible once probation ends and, for felony reductions, once a court grants relief under PC 17(b) to reclassify a wobbler down to a misdemeanor.
- Dismissals under PC 1203.4: available after successful probation completion, forming the traditional expungement route SB 731 builds on.
- Automatic felony sealing under PC 1203.425: applies once the DOJ confirms sentence completion and no new disqualifying convictions during the waiting period.
Two records with nearly identical facts can land on opposite sides of eligibility because of a single detail, like whether probation was formally terminated early or ran its full course. That’s why checking your actual court disposition matters more than guessing based on a friend’s case.
Automatic relief vs. petition-based relief: which one applies to you?
Automatic relief runs on a schedule you don’t control. The DOJ reviews records in batches roughly once a month, flags anything that meets the SB 731 eligibility criteria, annotates the record as relieved, and in many cases notifies the relevant court, according to the Record Relief Primer published by the California Policy Lab. No filing fee, no hearing, no attorney required.
The catch: “automatic” is an administrative process, not a guarantee. Several things commonly stall it.
- Missing or incomplete disposition data in the court’s own records.
- A sentence that technically hasn’t concluded because of an unpaid fine or unclosed probation term.
- Data entry errors between the arresting agency, the court, and the DOJ’s system.
- Multiple cases on one record where one disqualifying entry blocks the batch review from clearing the rest.
A petition-based approach gets you something automatic relief can’t: a human being in a courtroom actually looking at your case. That matters most when you need certainty fast, like an upcoming background check for a job offer, or when your record has the kind of complexity that trips up an automated system.
Pro Tip: Don’t wait for the DOJ’s next monthly cycle if you have a job offer on the line. File a petition and get a court date on the calendar. Waiting on an automated process you can’t track in real time is a bad bet when a paycheck is at stake.
What SB 731 record relief does not do
Sealing is not deletion, and this is the part people get wrong most often. Your case file doesn’t vanish. It gets restricted from public view, but the underlying record still exists and stays reachable by specific parties.
- Law enforcement and prosecutors retain full access to sealed records for future investigations or charging decisions.
- Certain licensing boards (particularly in law, medicine, and other regulated professions) can still see sealed convictions during background review.
- School and public safety employers in some categories run checks that pull sealed information under statutory exceptions.
- Sex offenses requiring registration are not eligible for sealing under SB 731 at all, and registration obligations continue regardless.
- Firearm rights are not automatically restored by sealing or expungement; that’s a separate legal process with its own requirements.
Disclosure questions on job or licensing applications deserve real caution. CalMatters reporting on the expungement law notes that some public office and government disclosure forms still require you to report a sealed conviction, even though a private employer’s standard background check would come back clean. Read the exact wording of any application before assuming a sealed record means you can answer “no” to every history question. When in doubt, that’s a conversation for an attorney, not a guess.
How to get record relief under SB 731: step-by-step actions
Start by finding out what’s actually on your record, not what you remember about your case. Court files, DOJ notations, and your own memory don’t always agree, and the gap is where people lose time.
- Pull your criminal history and case documents. Request your record from the DOJ and get the court disposition and, if relevant, the abstract of judgment from the courthouse where the case was filed.
- Check whether automatic relief already applied. Contact the court clerk or check with the DOJ to see if your record carries a relief notation under PC 851.93 or PC 1203.425. The California Courts self-help “clean your record” guide walks through how to verify this by case type.
- File a petition if automatic relief hasn’t hit, or your case is complicated. Petition-based expungement under SB 731 typically means filing in the county where you were convicted, and timelines run anywhere from a few weeks to a few months depending on the court’s calendar.
- Bring in counsel when the stakes or the paperwork get complicated. An attorney can build a mitigation packet, documentation of rehabilitation, employment history, and character evidence, that gives a judge a fuller picture than a bare-bones form ever will.
Pro Tip: Save every piece of paperwork tied to your case the moment probation ends, sentencing minutes, proof of fines paid, completion certificates. Courts lose records. You shouldn’t lose your shot at relief because a file got misplaced somewhere in the system.
How Gracelegalgroup helps with SB 731 record relief
Automatic relief works fine when your record is clean and the DOJ’s data matches your court file. It falls short when there’s a data error, an incomplete disposition, or a deadline you can’t afford to miss. That’s where a petition, filed correctly and backed with real evidence, beats waiting on a monthly batch review.
Gracelegalgroup puts two attorneys on every case, including SB 731 petitions, and builds a mitigation packet that documents your rehabilitation, employment record, and personal circumstances in the kind of detail an automated system never sees. That approach matters most for readers with a job offer on hold, a licensing application in progress, or a record complicated enough that the DOJ’s software is likely to miss it.
If your conviction touches on a broader criminal defense matter, from an underlying DUI record to questions about what defenses applied to your original case, Gracelegalgroup’s team can review the full picture, not just the sealing petition. Request a case assessment and bring your court disposition, sentencing documents, and any DOJ correspondence you’ve already received. Start by reviewing what defenses are available in most criminal cases and get a sense of how Gracelegalgroup approaches a case before you ever set foot in an office.
Why professional help matters with SB 731
The biggest mistake we see is people assuming automatic relief already happened when it hasn’t. Court data and DOJ data don’t always sync cleanly, and a missing disposition can leave someone’s record unsealed for months without them knowing. Check early. Keep your paperwork. And if a deadline is bearing down, don’t leave your case to the next monthly batch review.
— Jake
Where to verify your SB 731 status
Confirm your record directly rather than relying on secondhand summaries. The DOJ’s automatic record relief page explains the Penal Code mechanics, the California Courts self-help site walks through petition steps, and the Clean Slate fact sheet from Alameda County’s Public Defender breaks down code sections in plain language.
This article is general information, not a substitute for advice from a qualified lawyer. Consult a qualified legal professional about your own circumstances before acting on anything here.
Sources
- Automatic Record Relief – Penal Code sections 851.93 and 1203.425 | State of California – Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General
- California criminal records: Expungement law gives a fresh start – CalMatters
- Record relief primer | California Policy Lab