EQUAL Act of 2021

To eliminate the disparity in sentencing for cocaine offenses, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act of 2021 EQUAL Act of 2021 2. Elimination of increased penalties for cocaine offenses where the cocaine involved is cocaine base (a) Controlled substances act The following provisions of the Controlled Substances Act ( 21 U.S.C. 801 et seq. (1) Clause (iii) of section 401(b)(1)(A) ( 21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(A) (2) Clause (iii) of section 401(b)(1)(B) ( 21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(B) (b) Controlled substances import and export act The following provisions of the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act ( 21 U.S.C. 951 et seq. (1) Subparagraph (C) of section 1010(b)(1) ( 21 U.S.C. 960(b)(1) (2) Subparagraph (C) of section 1010(b)(2) ( 21 U.S.C. 960(b)(2) (c) Applicability to pending and past cases (1) Pending cases This section, and the amendments made by this section, shall apply to any sentence imposed after the date of enactment of this Act, regardless of when the offense was committed. (2) Past cases (A) In general In the case of a defendant who, on or before the date of enactment of this Act, was sentenced for a Federal offense described in subparagraph (B), the sentencing court may, on motion of the defendant, the Bureau of Prisons, the attorney for the Government, or on its own motion, impose a reduced sentence after considering the factors set forth in section 3553(a) of title 18, United States Code. (B) Federal offense described A Federal offense described in this subparagraph is an offense that involves cocaine base that is an offense under one of the following: (i) Section 401 of the Controlled Substances Act ( 21 U.S.C. 841 (ii) Section 1010 of the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act ( 21 U.S.C. 960 (iii) Section 404(a) of the Controlled Substances Act ( 21 U.S.C. 844(a) (iv) Any other Federal criminal offense, the conduct or penalties for which were established by reference to a provision described in clause (i), (ii), or (iii). (C) Defendant not required to be present Notwithstanding Rule 43 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the defendant is not required to be present at any hearing on whether to impose a reduced sentence pursuant to this paragraph. (D) No reduction for previously reduced sentences A court may not consider a motion made under this paragraph to reduce a sentence if the sentence was previously imposed or previously reduced in accordance with this Act. (E) No requirement to reduce sentence Nothing in this paragraph may be construed to require a court to reduce a sentence pursuant to this paragraph. September 27, 2021 Reported from the Committee on the Judiciary September 27, 2021 Committee on Energy and Commerce

Summary: Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act of 2021 or the EQUAL Act of 2021 This bill eliminates the federal sentencing disparity between drug offenses involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Currently, different threshold quantities of crack cocaine and powder cocaine (e.g., 28 grams of crack cocaine and 500 grams of powder cocaine) trigger the same statutory criminal penalties. This bill eliminates the lower quantity thresholds for crack cocaine offenses. Under the bill, the same threshold quantities of crack cocaine and powder cocaine trigger the same statutory criminal penalties. The change applies to future cases and cases pending on the date of enactment. With respect to past cases, the bill authorizes a sentencing court to impose a reduced sentence on a defendant who was convicted or sentenced for a specified crack cocaine offense before this bill's enactment. A defendant does not have to be present at the sentence reduction hearing. Finally, the bill prohibits the reduction of a sentence that was previously reduced.