In a society overridden with crime, we must ask ourselves why this is. Part of this is due to Pre-Employment Background Investigations, which limit the fields a convicted felon, that has paid their debt to society, can be employed to earn a honest living. The time has come to allow convicted felons the opportunity to reintegrate with society. Upon a felony conviction there are many things a felon can not do. The right to keep and bear arms is lost, the right to hold public office is lost, and many convicted felons find that they are unable to find meaningful jobs, that can support themselves and their families. This discounts the fact that people do in fact change. At 20 I was not the person that I am at 30, and I am not the person I will be in 10 more years. Yet employers are allowed to deny someone work due to past indiscretions. As a society we MUST change this. People make mistakes, and convicted felons have paid for their mistakes through incarceration, and supervised release. I am not suggesting eliminating background checks, but rather capping how far a non-government, non-national security relevant jobs can search. I am suggesting that violent felonies, and felonies involving children are not subject to this proposed change, mentioned here, as those crimes present a potential liability for an employer. As a credit report only goes back only 7 years, why should not a criminal background investigation be the same? Both a delinquent borrower and the criminal have certain things in common. 1) Both have made poor life decisions in the past 2) Both classes of people have the ability to change 3) Both classes of people are adversely effected by a label, earned by their own right. Imagine a society where based on a total lack of forgiveness. People not being able to buy a home because they maxed out a few credit cards 20 years ago and failed to pay their debt off. This is where the debtor and the reformed felon differ though. A reformed convicted felon HAS paid their debt to society as determined by a judge and yet is not allowed to find meaningful work many years after their conviction. Employment background checks should be subject to the same limitations as a credit check. And now I will present the reasons why. 1) This nation, a nation that calls itself the land of opportunity, yet we continue to punish people for past mistakes. 2) Without the opportunity to have records closed after a period of seven years you leave many previously convicted felons no meaningful opportunities to better themselves and to pursue their God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, forcing many people back into a life of crime 3) Everyone has made mistakes, if there is no opportunity to recover from the mistakes of the past than are we really living in the "Land of Opportunity"? The above mentioned changes would not be applied to the judicial system. If a convicted felon commits a new felony, their record in its entirety should still be open for sentencing purposes. I support the rights of those who have changed their lives, to better themselves. I believe that after a period of seven years without a felony conviction has sufficiently shown that they have 

changed their lives. I further believe that now is the time for change.

Your signature is valuable and makes a real difference. Please encourage others to sign the petition as well. Forward this link to everyone who might be interested: