II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 989 

To amend the Controlled Substances Act to require a person that possesses 

or intends to possess a tableting machine or encapsulating machine 

to obtain registration from the Attorney General, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 2, 2019 

Mr. CASSIDY (for himself and Ms. HASSAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Controlled Substances Act to require a person 

that possesses or intends to possess a tableting machine 

or encapsulating machine to obtain registration from the 

Attorney General, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Substance Tableting 

5 and Encapsulating Enforcement and Registration Act’’ or 

6 the ‘‘STEER Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REGISTRATION FOR TABLETING AND ENCAP2 SULATING MACHINES. 

3 (a) PERSONS REQUIRED TO REGISTER.—Section 

4 302 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 822) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 

7 following: 

8 ‘‘(3)(A) Each person who possesses a tableting ma9 chine or encapsulating machine shall obtain from the At10 torney General a registration for each such machine in ac11 cordance with regulations promulgated by the Attorney 

12 General. 

13 ‘‘(B) Such person shall update the information sub14 mitted to the Attorney General for such registration as 

15 necessary to ensure the accuracy of such information.’’; 

16 and 

17 (2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘or list I 

18 chemical’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘, list 

19 I chemical, tableting machine, or encapsulating ma20 chine’’. 

21 (b) REGISTRATION PROCESS.—Section 303 of the 

22 Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 823) is amended 

23 by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(l) REGISTRATION OF TABLETING AND ENCAP25 SULATING MACHINES.—The Attorney General shall reg26 ister each tableting machine or encapsulating machine for 


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1 which an application is submitted under section 

2 302(a)(3)(A) unless the Attorney General determines that 

3 such registration is inconsistent with the public interest.’’. 

4 (c) DEFINITIONS.—Section 102 of the Controlled 

5 Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802) is amended by adding at 

6 the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(58) The term ‘encapsulating machine’ means 

8 equipment— 

9 ‘‘(A) that is designed to fill with a controlled 

10 substance, or a controlled substance analogue, a 

11 shell or capsule for human or animal consumption 

12 and that— 

13 ‘‘(i) allows the operator of such equipment 

14 to fill more than one shell or capsule without 

15 human intervention between the filling of each 

16 such shell or capsule; or 

17 ‘‘(ii) may be attached to a container that 

18 modifies such equipment such that the operator 

19 may fill more than one shell or capsule without 

20 human intervention between the filling of each 

21 shell or capsule; or 

22 ‘‘(B) that has been used to fill with a controlled 

23 substance, or a controlled substance analogue, a 

24 shell or capsule for human or animal consumption. 


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1 ‘‘(59) The term ‘tableting machine’ means equip2 ment— 

3 ‘‘(A) that is designed to compact or mold a con4 trolled substance, or a controlled substance ana5 logue, to produce a coherent, solid tablet for human 

6 or animal consumption and that— 

7 ‘‘(i) allows the operator to produce more 

8 than one such tablet without human interven9 tion between the production of each such tablet; 

10 or 

11 ‘‘(ii) may be attached to a container that 

12 modifies such equipment such that the operator 

13 may produce more than one such tablet without 

14 human intervention between the production of 

15 each such tablet; or 

16 ‘‘(B) that has been used to compact or mold a 

17 controlled substance, or a controlled substance ana18 logue, to produce a coherent, solid tablet for human 

19 or animal consumption.’’. 

20 (d) PENALTY.—Section 402(a) of the Controlled Sub21 stances Act (21 U.S.C. 842(a)) is amended— 

22 (1) in paragraph (16), by striking ‘‘or’’ after at 

23 the end; 

24 (2) in paragraph (17), by striking the period at 

25 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 


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1 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(18) to possess a tableting machine or encap3 sulating machine, in or affecting interstate com4 merce, without the registration required by this 

5 title.’’. 

6 (e) APPLICATION.—This section and the amendments 

7 made by this section shall apply beginning at the end of 

8 the 1-year period following the date of the enactment of 

9 this Act. 

10 SEC. 3. INFORMATION CAMPAIGN. 

11 The Attorney General shall conduct a campaign to 

12 inform persons required to register under the amendments 

13 made by section 2 of such requirement. 

14 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

15 Not later than 2 years after the date of the enact16 ment of this Act, the Attorney General shall submit to 

17 the Congress a report containing— 

18 (1) a description and evaluation of the efforts 

19 of the Drug Enforcement Administration under the 

20 amendments made by section 2 to reduce the use of 

21 unregistered tableting machines and encapsulating 

22 machines in the illegal manufacture of controlled 

23 substances; 


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1 (2) with respect to tableting machines and en2 capsulating machines, or disassembled parts of such 

3 machines— 

4 (A) the number seized by the Drug En5 forcement Administration after the date of the 

6 enactment of this Act; and 

7 (B) the number imported and exported 

8 after the date of the enactment of this Act; and 

9 (3) recommendations with respect to changes to 

10 Federal law to support the Drug Enforcement Ad11 ministration in such efforts. 

12 SEC. 5. SUNSET. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act and the amendments 

14 made by this Act shall cease to be effective beginning on 

15 the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment 

16 of this Act. 

17 (b) REPEAL OF AMENDMENTS.—Effective on the 

18 date described in subsection (a): 

19 (1) Section 102 of the Controlled Substances 

20 Act (21 U.S.C. 802) is amended by striking para21 graphs (58) and (59). 

22 (2) Section 302 of the Controlled Substances 

23 Act (21 U.S.C. 822) is amended— 

24 (A) in subsection (a), by striking para25 graph (3); and 


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1 (B) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘, list I 

2 chemical, tableting machine, or encapsulating 

3 machine’’ each place it appears and inserting 

4 ‘‘or list I chemical’’. 

5 (3) Section 303 of the Controlled Substances 

6 Act (21 U.S.C. 823) is amended by striking sub7 section (l). 

8 (4) Section 402(a) of the Controlled Substances 

9 Act (21 U.S.C. 842(a)) is amended— 

10 (A) in paragraph (16), by adding ‘‘or’’ at 

11 the end; 

12 (B) in paragraph (17), by striking ‘‘; or’’ 

13 and inserting a period; and 

14 (C) by striking paragraph (18). 

Æ 


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