II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1410 

To focus limited Federal resources on the most serious offenders. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 31, 2013 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. LEE, and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following 

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

A BILL 

To focus limited Federal resources on the most serious 

offenders. 

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 ‘‘Smarter Sentencing 

5 Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. APPLICABILITY OF STATUTORY MINIMUMS. 

7 Section 3553(f)(1) of title 18, United States Code, 

8 is amended by striking ‘‘defendant’’ and all that follows 

9 through ‘‘point’’ and inserting ‘‘criminal history category 

10 for the defendant is not higher than category 2’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF APPLICABILITY OF THE FAIR 

2 SENTENCING ACT. 

3 (a) DEFINITION OF COVERED OFFENSE.—In this 

4 section, the term ‘‘covered offense’’ means a violation of 

5 a Federal criminal statute, the statutory penalties for 

6 which were modified by section 2 or 3 of the Fair Sen7 tencing Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–220; 124 Stat. 

8 2372), that was committed before August 3, 2010. 

9 (b) DEFENDANTS PREVIOUSLY SENTENCED.—A 

10 court that imposed a sentence for a covered offense, may, 

11 on motion of the defendant, the Director of the Bureau 

12 of Prisons, the attorney for the Government, or the court, 

13 impose a reduced sentence as if sections 2 and 3 of the 

14 Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–220; 124 

15 Stat. 2372) were in effect at the time the covered offense 

16 was committed. 

17 (c) LIMITATIONS.—No court shall entertain a motion 

18 made under this section to reduce a sentence if the sen19 tence was previously imposed or previously reduced in ac20 cordance with the amendments made by sections 2 and 

21 3 of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (Public Law 111– 

22 220; 124 Stat. 2372) or if a motion made under this sec23 tion to reduce the sentence was previously denied. Nothing 

24 in this section shall be construed to require a court to re25 duce any sentence pursuant to this section. 


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1 SEC. 4. SENTENCING MODIFICATIONS FOR CERTAIN DRUG 

2 OFFENSES. 

3 (a) CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT.—Section 

4 401(b)(1) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 

5 841(b)(1)) is amended— 

6 (1) in subparagraph (A), in the flush text fol7 lowing clause (viii)— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘10 years or more’’ and in9 serting ‘‘5 years or more’’; and 

10 (B) by striking ‘‘such person shall be sen11 tenced to a term of imprisonment which may 

12 not be less than 20 years and’’ and inserting 

13 ‘‘such person shall be sentenced to a term of 

14 imprisonment which may not be less than 10 

15 years and’’; and 

16 (2) in subparagraph (B), in the flush text fol17 lowing clause (viii)— 

18 (A) by striking ‘‘5 years’’ and inserting ‘‘2 

19 years’’; and 

20 (B) by striking ‘‘not be less than 10 years’’ 

21 and inserting ‘‘not be less than 5 years’’. 

22 (b) CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES IMPORT AND EXPORT

23 ACT.—Section 1010(b) of the Controlled Substances Im24 port and Export Act (21 U.S.C. 960(b)) is amended— 

25 (1) in paragraph (1), in the flush text following 

26 subparagraph (H)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘not less than 10 years’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘not less than 5 years’’; and 

3 (B) by striking ‘‘such person shall be sen4 tenced to a term of imprisonment of not less 

5 than 20 years’’ and inserting ‘‘such person shall 

6 be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not 

7 less than 10 years’’; and 

8 (2) in paragraph (2), in the flush text following 

9 subparagraph (H)— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘5 years’’ and inserting ‘‘2 

11 years’’; and 

12 (B) by striking ‘‘10 years’’ and inserting 

13 ‘‘5 years’’. 

14 SEC. 5. DIRECTIVE TO THE SENTENCING COMMISSION. 

15 (a) DIRECTIVE TO SENTENCING COMMISSION.—Pur16 suant to its authority under section 994(p) of title 28, 

17 United States Code, and in accordance with this section, 

18 the United States Sentencing Commission shall review and 

19 amend, if appropriate, its guidelines and its policy state20 ments applicable to persons convicted of an offense under 

21 section 401 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 

22 841) or section 1010 of the Controlled Substances Import 

23 and Export Act (21 U.S.C. 960) to ensure that the guide24 lines and policy statements are consistent with the amend25 ments made by sections 2 and 4 of this Act and reflect 


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1 the intent of Congress that such penalties be decreased 

2 in accordance with the amendments made by section 4 of 

3 this Act. 

4 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In carrying out this section, 

5 the United States Sentencing Commission shall con6 sider— 

7 (1) the mandate of the United States Sen8 tencing Commission, under section 994(g) of title 

9 28, United States Code, to formulate the sentencing 

10 guidelines in such a way as to ‘‘minimize the likeli11 hood that the Federal prison population will exceed 

12 the capacity of the Federal prisons’’; 

13 (2) the findings and conclusions of the United 

14 States Sentencing Commission in its October 2011 

15 report to Congress entitled, Mandatory Minimum 

16 Penalties in the Federal Criminal Justice System; 

17 (3) the fiscal implications of any amendments 

18 or revisions to the sentencing guidelines or policy 

19 statements made by the United States Sentencing 

20 Commission; 

21 (4) the relevant public safety concerns involved 

22 in the considerations before the United States Sen23 tencing Commission; 


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1 (5) the intent of Congress that penalties for 

2 violent and serious drug traffickers who present pub3 lic safety risks remain appropriately severe; and 

4 (6) the need to reduce and prevent racial dis5 parities in Federal sentencing. 

6 (c) EMERGENCY AUTHORITY.—The United States 

7 Sentencing Commission shall— 

8 (1) promulgate the guidelines, policy state9 ments, or amendments provided for in this Act as 

10 soon as practicable, and in any event not later than 

11 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, in 

12 accordance with the procedure set forth in section 

13 21(a) of the Sentencing Act of 1987 (28 U.S.C. 994 

14 note), as though the authority under that Act had 

15 not expired; and 

16 (2) pursuant to the emergency authority pro17 vided under paragraph (1), make such conforming 

18 amendments to the Federal sentencing guidelines as 

19 the Commission determines necessary to achieve 

20 consistency with other guideline provisions and ap21 plicable law. 

22 SEC. 6. REPORT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL. 

23 Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment 

24 of this Act, the Attorney General shall submit to the Com25 mittees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives 


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1 and the Senate a report outlining how the reduced expend2 itures on Federal corrections and the cost savings result3 ing from this Act will be used to help reduce overcrowding 

4 in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, help increase proper in5 vestment in law enforcement and crime prevention, and 

6 help reduce criminal recidivism, thereby increasing the ef7 fectiveness of Federal criminal justice spending. 

Æ 


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