Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB477 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 477
5	5	To amend the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled Substances
6	6	Import and Export Act to modify the offenses relating to fentanyl,
7	7	and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	FEBRUARY6 (legislative day, FEBRUARY5), 2025
10	10	Mr. K
11	11	ENNEDY(for himself, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. GRAHAM, Mrs. BRITT, and Mr.
12	12	J
13	13	USTICE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
14	14	to the Committee on the Judiciary
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To amend the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled
17	17	Substances Import and Export Act to modify the of-
18	18	fenses relating to fentanyl, and for other purposes.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairness in Fentanyl 4
23	23	Sentencing Act of 2025’’. 5
24	24	SEC. 2. CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT AMENDMENTS. 6
25	25	Section 401(b)(1) of the Controlled Substances Act 7
26	26	(21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)) is amended— 8
27	27	(1) in subparagraph (A)(vi)— 9
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30	30	•S 477 IS
31	31	(A) by striking ‘‘400’’ and inserting ‘‘20’’; 1
32	32	(B) by striking ‘‘100’’ and inserting ‘‘5’’; 2
33	33	and 3
34	34	(C) by inserting ‘‘scheduled or unsched-4
35	35	uled’’ before ‘‘analogue of’’; and 5
36	36	(2) in subparagraph (B)(vi)— 6
37	37	(A) by striking ‘‘40’’ and inserting ‘‘2’’; 7
38	38	(B) by striking ‘‘10’’ and inserting ‘‘0.5’’; 8
39	39	and 9
40	40	(C) by inserting ‘‘scheduled or unsched-10
41	41	uled’’ before ‘‘analogue of’’. 11
42	42	SEC. 3. CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES IMPORT AND EXPORT 12
43	43	ACT AMENDMENTS. 13
44	44	Section 1010(b) of the Controlled Substances Import 14
45	45	and Export Act (21 U.S.C. 960(b)) is amended— 15
46	46	(1) in paragraph (1)(F)— 16
47	47	(A) by striking ‘‘400’’ and inserting ‘‘20’’; 17
48	48	(B) by striking ‘‘100’’ and inserting ‘‘5’’; 18
49	49	and 19
50	50	(C) by inserting ‘‘scheduled or unsched-20
51	51	uled’’ before ‘‘analogue of’’; and 21
52	52	(2) in paragraph (2)(F)— 22
53	53	(A) by striking ‘‘40’’ and inserting ‘‘2’’; 23
54	54	(B) by striking ‘‘10’’ and inserting ‘‘0.5’’; 24
55	55	and 25
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58	58	•S 477 IS
59	59	(C) by inserting ‘‘scheduled or unsched-1
60	60	uled’’ before ‘‘analogue of’’. 2
61	61	SEC. 4. DIRECTIVE TO THE SENTENCING COMMISSION. 3
62	62	(a) D
63	63	EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘Commis-4
64	64	sion’’ means the United States Sentencing Commission. 5
65	65	(b) D
66	66	IRECTIVE TO THE UNITEDSTATESSEN-6
67	67	TENCINGCOMMISSION.—Pursuant to the authority of the 7
68	68	Commission under section 994(p) of title 28, United 8
69	69	States Code, and in accordance with this section, the Com-9
70	70	mission shall review and amend, if appropriate, the guide-10
71	71	lines and policy statements of the Commission applicable 11
72	72	to a person convicted of an offense under section 401 of 12
73	73	the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 841) or section 13
74	74	1010 of the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act 14
75	75	(21 U.S.C. 960) to ensure that the guidelines and policy 15
76	76	statements are consistent with the amendments made by 16
77	77	sections 2 and 3 of this Act. 17
78	78	(c) E
79	79	MERGENCY AUTHORITY.—The Commission 18
80	80	shall— 19
81	81	(1) promulgate the guidelines, policy state-20
82	82	ments, or amendments provided for in this Act as 21
83	83	soon as practicable, and in any event not later than 22
84	84	120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, in 23
85	85	accordance with the procedure set forth in section 24
86	86	21(a) of the Sentencing Act of 1987 (28 U.S.C. 994 25
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89	89	•S 477 IS
90	90	note), as though the authority under that Act had 1
91	91	not expired; and 2
92	92	(2) pursuant to the emergency authority pro-3
93	93	vided under paragraph (1), make such conforming 4
94	94	amendments to the Federal sentencing guidelines as 5
95	95	the Commission determines necessary to achieve 6
96	96	consistency with other guideline provisions and ap-7
97	97	plicable law. 8
98	98	SEC. 5. INTERDICTION OF FENTANYL, OTHER SYNTHETIC 9
99	99	OPIOIDS, AND OTHER NARCOTICS AND 10
100	100	PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES. 11
101	101	(a) D
102	102	EFINITIONS.—In this section— 12
103	103	(1) the term ‘‘chemical screening device’’ means 13
104	104	an immunoassay, narcotics field test kit, infrared 14
105	105	spectrophotometer, mass spectrometer, nuclear mag-15
106	106	netic resonance spectrometer, Raman spectrophoto-16
107	107	meter, or other scientific instrumentation able to col-17
108	108	lect data that can be interpreted to determine the 18
109	109	presence of fentanyl, other synthetic opioids, and 19
110	110	other narcotics and psychoactive substances; 20
111	111	(2) the term ‘‘express consignment operator or 21
112	112	carrier’’ has the meaning given the term in section 22
113	113	128.1 of title 19, Code of Federal Regulations, or 23
114	114	any successor thereto; and 24
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118	118	(3) the term ‘‘Postmaster General’’ means the 1
119	119	Postmaster General of the United States Postal 2
120	120	Service. 3
121	121	(b) I
122	122	NTERDICTION OF FENTANYL, OTHERSYN-4
123	123	THETICOPIOIDS, ANDOTHERNARCOTICS AND 5
124	124	P
125	125	SYCHOACTIVESUBSTANCES.— 6
126	126	(1) C
127	127	HEMICAL SCREENING DEVICES .—The 7
128	128	Postmaster General shall— 8
129	129	(A) increase the number of chemical 9
130	130	screening devices that are available to the 10
131	131	United States Postal Service; and 11
132	132	(B) make additional chemical screening de-12
133	133	vices available to the United States Postal Serv-13
134	134	ice as the Postmaster General determines are 14
135	135	necessary to interdict fentanyl, other synthetic 15
136	136	opioids, and other narcotics and psychoactive 16
137	137	substances that are illegally imported into the 17
138	138	United States, including such substances that 18
139	139	are imported through the mail or by an express 19
140	140	consignment operator or carrier. 20
141	141	(2) P
142	142	ERSONNEL TO INTERPRET DATA .—The 21
143	143	Postmaster General shall dedicate the appropriate 22
144	144	number of personnel of the United States Postal 23
145	145	Service, including scientists, so that those personnel 24
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148	148	•S 477 IS
149	149	are available during all operational hours to inter-1
150	150	pret data collected by chemical screening devices. 2
151	151	(c) A
152	152	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 3
153	153	authorized to be appropriated to the Postmaster General 4
154	154	$9,000,000 to ensure that the United States Postal Serv-5
155	155	ice has resources, including chemical screening devices, 6
156	156	personnel, and scientists, available during all operational 7
157	157	hours to prevent, detect, and interdict the unlawful impor-8
158	158	tation of fentanyl, other synthetic opioids, and other nar-9
159	159	cotics and psychoactive substances. 10
160	160	Æ
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