Banks, prosecutors and state attorneys spar over sealed‑record access, designated felonies in S.12

The House Judiciary Committee on May 7 heard competing views on draft language for S.12, the bill to expand sealing of criminal records. Business groups urged narrower or delayed sealing for financial offenses; prosecutors and the Attorney General’s office asked the committee to clarify how sealed records may be accessed and used in criminal justice proceedings.

Chris Steele, president of the Vermont Bankers Association, told the committee the association “does not oppose the ceiling of criminal records” but urged lawmakers to reconsider including certain financial crimes. Reading a list from the draft, Steele identified offenses he said touch the banking sector — forgery, identity theft, embezzlement, possession or use of credit‑card skimming devices and certain computer crimes — and warned that sealing those records could prevent employers from “mak[ing] an informed decision”: “If somebody's got a history of identity theft... is that the individual we want working with our institution? And if the criminal record is sealed, we won't know that.”

Steele proposed two remedies: remove the financial‑related felonies from the…