Opinion ID: 506643
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Effective Date of 1986 Act

Text: 26 Meyers also challenges the district court's imposition of a 25 year sentence under the enhanced penalty provisions of the Narcotics Penalties and Enforcement Act of 1986, Pub.L. No. 99-570, 100 Stat. 3207, 3207-2 to 3207-8 (1986) (1986 Act). 2 See 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b) (Supp.IV 1986). Meyers contends the penalty provisions of the Controlled Substances Penalties Amendments Act, Pub.L. No. 98-473, 98 Stat. 2030 (1984) (1984 Act), in fact apply in this case. 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b) (Supp. II 1984). Alternately, Meyers argues neither the 1984 nor the 1986 amendments to the penalty provisions apply because both amendments were tied to the effective date set out in section 235 of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, November 1, 1987. Following review of the relevant legislation, we conclude the most rational construction of the statutory scheme is that the increased penalty provisions of the 1986 Act became effective immediately on October 27, 1986. Thus, Meyers was correctly sentenced on July 24, 1987 to 25 years under the 1986 Act. 27 Prior to 1984, the penalty provisions of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841 for violations involving narcotic drugs, provided for a term of imprisonment of not more than 15 years, a fine of not more than $25,000, or both. 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b)(1)(A) (1982). In 1984, Congress amended the penalty provisions of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841 in the Controlled Substances Penalties Amendments Act. See Pub.L. 98-473, 98 Stat. 2068-69, Sec. 501 et seq. (1984); 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b)(Supp. II 1984). For violations of section 841(a) involving, as in the instant case, a kilogram or more of a narcotic drug, the statute provided that such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 20 years, a fine of not more than $250,000, or both. Pub.L. 98-473, 98 Stat. 2068, Sec. 502 (1984). The increased penalty provisions of the 1984 Act became effective upon their enactment on October 12, 1984. Calabrese, 825 F.2d at 1346; cf., United States v. Shaffer, 789 F.2d 682 (9th Cir.1986) (provision granting government right to appeal under Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 effective as of enactment on October 12, 1984). 28 In 1986, the penalty provisions were amended again, in the Narcotics Penalties and Enforcement Act of 1986, part of the comprehensive Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. Pub.L. 99-570, 100 Stat. 3207, Sec. 1001 et seq. (1986); 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b) (Supp. IV 1986). Section 841(b) was amended to provide that in the case of violations involving 500 grams or more of a mixture containing cocaine, such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment which may not be less than 5 years and not more than 40 years ... a fine not to exceed ... $2,000,000 if the defendant is an individual ... or both. Pub.L. 99-570, 100 Stat. 3207, 3207-3 to 3207-4 Sec. 1002 (1986); 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b)(1)(B) (Supp. IV 1986). 29 Meyers argues that the 1986 amendments to the penalty provisions did not become effective immediately upon the statute's enactment on October 27, 1986, but rather that the amendments were tied to certain provisions of the 1986 Act delaying the effective date to November 1, 1987. Specifically, Meyers notes the following section: 30 The amendments made by this section shall take effect on the date of the taking effect of section 3583 of Title 18, United States Code. [November 1, 1987]. Narcotics Penalties and Enforcement Act of 1986, Pub.L. 99-570, Sec. 1004(b), 100 Stat. 3207-6. 31 The district court concluded that the reference to this section in the above quotation only referred to section 1004 of the 1986 Act which amended the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act by striking the term special parole term and inserting term of supervised release. The district court found the effective date of the enhanced sentencing provisions was not tied to 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3583 and that only the amendments to the special parole provisions were delayed to 1987. 32 We agree with this construction of the statute. The only specific mention of a delayed effective date occurs in those sections modifying or eliminating special parole terms or terms of supervised release, see, e.g., Pub.L. 99-570, Secs. 1004(b), 1006(a)(4), or those sections requiring application of the guidelines issued by the Sentencing Commission, such as those provisions providing for a court's limited authority to impose a sentence below a statutory minimum, see Pub.L. 99-570, Sec. 1007(b), Sec. 1009(b). The lengthy sections amending the penalty provisions of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b) make no mention of a delayed effective date. See Pub.L. 99-570, Secs. 1002, 1003. Under general principles of statutory construction, [i]n the absence of an express provision in the statute itself, an act takes effect on the date of its enactment. Shaffer, 789 F.2d at 686 (quoting cases). This date would be, as the government contended below, October 27, 1986, the date of the Act's approval by the President. 3 33 At oral argument, we requested the parties to address the applicability, if any, of the provisions and effective date of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, Pub.L. 98-473, 98 Stat. 2030-31, Sec. 235(b)(1)(1984) and a recent decision of this Court construing that Act, United States v. Rewald, 835 F.2d 215, 216 (9th Cir.1987). Rewald indicated the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 became effective on November 1, 1987 and that the sentencing guidelines developed by the Sentencing Commission do not apply to conduct that occurred prior to November 1, 1987. 4 In this case, our inquiry was directed to the question of whether the effective date set out in section 235 of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 also operated to delay the effective date of the 1986 amendments to the penalty provisions of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b). We conclude it does not. 34 Section 235 of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 was enacted in Chapter II of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. Pub.L. 98-473, 98 Stat. 1837 (1984). 5 Chapter II made substantial amendments to the general sentencing provisions of the United States Code, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3551 et seq., and also, inter alia, provided for the establishment of the United States Sentencing Commission. See Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, Pub.L. 98-473, 98 Stat. 1987, 2017. Section 235 of Chapter II provides that [t]his chapter shall take effect on the first day of the first calendar month beginning twenty-four months after the date of enactment ... Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, Pub.L. 98-473, 98 Stat. 2031, Sec. 235(a)(1). Congress subsequently extended the effective date by 12 months. See 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3551 (Supp. IV 1986) (chapter effective 36 months after enactment). Thus, it is clear the changes enacted by Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, and in particular, the sentencing guidelines and policy recommendations of the United States Sentencing Commission, took effect November 1, 1987. Id.; see also, Rewald, 835 F.2d at 216. 35 The 1984 amendments to the penalty provisions of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841, however, fall within an entirely different chapter, Chapter V of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. Pub.L. 98-473, 98 Stat. 2068, Sec. 501 et seq. Consequently, Meyers errs when he contends the effective date set out in Chapter II of the Sentencing Reform Act controls the application of the amendments set forth in Chapter V of the Controlled Substances Penalties Amendments Act of 1984. As we stated in Calabrese, the increased penalties of the 1984 Act became effective immediately on October 12, 1984. Calabrese, 825 F.2d at 1345-46. Given that the 1984 amendments to the penalty provisions were not tied to the effective date of the Sentencing Reform Act, there is little reason to find that the 1986 amendments were so tied. This is especially true where, as noted above, the only specific mention of a delayed effective date in the 1986 Act occurs in those provisions relating to special parole or the application of the sentencing guidelines. Accordingly, we hold the 1986 amendments to the penalty provisions of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841, as provided in the Narcotics Penalties and Enforcement Act of 1986, became effective immediately on October 27, 1986.