Ending the Fentanyl Crisis Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1293 To amend the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act to modify the offenses relating to fentanyl, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 21, 2021 Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. COTTON, and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act to modify the of- fenses relating to fentanyl, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ending the Fentanyl 4 Crisis Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT AMENDMENTS. 6 Section 401(b)(1) of the Controlled Substances Act 7 (21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)) is amended— 8 (1) in subparagraph (A)(vi)— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1293.IS S1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1293 IS (A) by striking ‘‘400’’ and inserting ‘‘20’’; 1 (B) by striking ‘‘100’’ and inserting ‘‘5’’; 2 and 3 (C) by inserting ‘‘scheduled or unsched- 4 uled’’ before ‘‘analogue of’’; and 5 (2) in subparagraph (B)(vi)— 6 (A) by striking ‘‘40’’ and inserting ‘‘2’’; 7 (B) by striking ‘‘10’’ and inserting ‘‘0.5’’; 8 and 9 (C) by inserting ‘‘scheduled or unsched- 10 uled’’ before ‘‘analogue of’’. 11 SEC. 3. CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES IMPORT AND EXPORT 12 ACT AMENDMENTS. 13 Section 1010(b) of the Controlled Substances Import 14 and Export Act (21 U.S.C. 960(b))— 15 (1) in paragraph (1)(F)— 16 (A) by striking ‘‘400’’ and inserting ‘‘20’’; 17 (B) by striking ‘‘100’’ and inserting ‘‘5’’; 18 and 19 (C) by inserting ‘‘scheduled or unsched- 20 uled’’ before ‘‘analogue of’’; and 21 (2) in paragraph (2)(F)— 22 (A) by striking ‘‘40’’ and inserting ‘‘2’’; 23 (B) by striking ‘‘10’’ and inserting ‘‘0.5’’; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1293.IS S1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1293 IS (C) by inserting ‘‘scheduled or unsched- 1 uled’’ before ‘‘analogue of’’. 2 SEC. 4. DIRECTIVE TO THE SENTENCING COMMISSION. 3 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘Commis- 4 sion’’ means the United States Sentencing Commission. 5 (b) DIRECTIVE TO THE UNITED STATES SEN- 6 TENCING COMMISSION.—Pursuant to the authority of the 7 Commission under section 994(p) of title 28, United 8 States Code, and in accordance with this section, the Com- 9 mission shall review and amend, if appropriate, the guide- 10 lines and policy statements of the Commission applicable 11 to a person convicted of an offense under section 401 of 12 the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 841) or section 13 1010 of the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act 14 (21 U.S.C. 960) to ensure that the guidelines and policy 15 statements are consistent with the amendments made by 16 sections 2 and 3 of this Act. 17 (c) EMERGENCY AUTHORITY.—The Commission 18 shall— 19 (1) promulgate the guidelines, policy state- 20 ments, or amendments provided for in this Act as 21 soon as practicable, and in any event not later than 22 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, in 23 accordance with the procedure set forth in section 24 21(a) of the Sentencing Act of 1987 (28 U.S.C. 994 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1293.IS S1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1293 IS note), as though the authority under that Act had 1 not expired; and 2 (2) pursuant to the emergency authority pro- 3 vided under paragraph (1), make such conforming 4 amendments to the Federal sentencing guidelines as 5 the Commission determines necessary to achieve 6 consistency with other guideline provisions and ap- 7 plicable law. 8 SEC. 5. INTERDICTION OF FENTANYL, OTHER SYNTHETIC 9 OPIOIDS, AND OTHER NARCOTICS AND 10 PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES. 11 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 12 (1) the term ‘‘chemical screening device’’ means 13 an immunoassay, narcotics field test kit, infrared 14 spectrophotometer, mass spectrometer, nuclear mag- 15 netic resonance spectrometer, Raman spectrophoto- 16 meter, or other scientific instrumentation able to col- 17 lect data that can be interpreted to determine the 18 presence of fentanyl, other synthetic opioids, and 19 other narcotics and psychoactive substances; 20 (2) the term ‘‘express consignment operator or 21 carrier’’ has the meaning given the term in section 22 128.1 of title 19, Code of Federal Regulations, or 23 any successor thereto; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1293.IS S1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1293 IS (3) the term ‘‘Postmaster General’’ means the 1 Postmaster General of the United States Postal 2 Service. 3 (b) INTERDICTION OF FENTANYL, OTHER SYN- 4 THETIC OPIOIDS, AND OTHER NARCOTICS AND 5 PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES.— 6 (1) CHEMICAL SCREENING DEVICES.—The 7 Postmaster General shall— 8 (A) increase the number of chemical 9 screening devices that are available to the 10 United States Postal Service; and 11 (B) make additional chemical screening de- 12 vices available to the United States Postal Serv- 13 ice as the Postmaster General determines are 14 necessary to interdict fentanyl, other synthetic 15 opioids, and other narcotics and psychoactive 16 substances that are illegally imported into the 17 United States, including such substances that 18 are imported through the mail or by an express 19 consignment operator or carrier. 20 (2) PERSONNEL TO INTERPRET DATA.—The 21 Postmaster General shall dedicate the appropriate 22 number of personnel of the United States Postal 23 Service, including scientists, so that those personnel 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1293.IS S1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1293 IS are available during all operational hours to inter- 1 pret data collected by chemical screening devices. 2 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 3 authorized to be appropriated to the Postmaster General 4 $9,000,000 to ensure that the United States Postal Serv- 5 ice has resources, including chemical screening devices, 6 personnel, and scientists, available during all operational 7 hours to prevent, detect, and interdict the unlawful impor- 8 tation of fentanyl, other synthetic opioids, and other nar- 9 cotics and psychoactive substances. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1293.IS S1293 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS