Whereas systemic racism within the criminal justice system has led to deep racial disparities within the population of Americans with felony convictions; Whereas a 2017 study from the University of Georgia found that while 8 percent of all Americans have a felony conviction, 33 percent of African-American males have been convicted of a felony; Whereas the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recommends that employers refrain from asking about conviction history on job applications and limit their queries to job-related convictions or convictions that would be consistent with business necessities if they choose to ask these questions; Whereas a 2018 report from the Brookings Institution found that one-third of all 30-year-old men in the United States who reported no annual earnings are either incarcerated or formerly incarcerated; Whereas the 2018 Brookings Institution report found that while only 49 percent of prime-age men were employed 2 years prior to their incarceration, 45 percent of former prisoners reported no earnings in the year after their release; Whereas a 2003 study in the American Journal of Sociology found that stating a criminal record on a job application reduces the likelihood of an employer calling back a potential employee by 50 percent; Whereas eliminating questions about an applicant’s criminal history on their initial applications would allow job applicants a fair hearing with potential employers; Whereas 13 States already prohibit private employers from asking questions about a job applicant’s conviction history; Whereas an analysis by the Prison Policy Initiative found that, in 2008, 27 percent of formerly incarcerated individuals were unemployed, compared to just 5.2 percent of the overall population