S 697 116th Congress Senate Crime and Law Enforcement Administrative law and regulatory procedures Administrative remedies Child health Child safety and welfare Civil actions and liability Congressional oversight Correctional facilities and imprisonment Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation Criminal justice information and records Criminal procedure and sentencing Department of Defense Detention of persons Drug trafficking and controlled substances Drug, alcohol, tobacco use Emergency medical services and trauma care Employee hiring Employee performance Employment and training programs Employment discrimination and employee rights

PRIDE Act

Introduced: March 7, 2019 Introduced by: Booker, Cory A. Democratic · New Jersey See on congress.gov

Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Mar 7, 2019

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mar 7, 2019

Introduced in Senate

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Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Next Step Act of 2019

This bill revises sentencing guidelines, addresses prison conditions and prisoner reentry, and addresses law enforcement training.

First, it eliminates increased and mandatory minimum penalties for drug offenses involving mixtures or substances which contain cocaine base (i.e., crack cocaine).

It decriminalizes marijuana by (1) removing marijuana from the list of scheduled substances; (2) eliminating criminal penalties for an individual who imports, exports, manufactures, distributes, or possesses with intent to distribute marijuana; and (3) expunging convictions for marijuana use or possession.

It reduces the mandatory minimum prison term for defendants who manufacture, distribute, or possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

Additionally, the bill

requires the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to provide videoconferencing free of charge to prisoners;
prohibits federal agencies from requesting that applicants disclose their criminal history before receiving a conditional offer of employment;
restricts the use of criminal records to disqualify individuals from employment, occupational licensing, or occupational certification;
creates a mechanism by which certain eligible individuals may file a petition to seal federal criminal records for certain nonviolent offenses;
reinstates the right to vote in federal elections for persons convicted of criminal offenses;
revises requirements for the BOP to help prisoners obtain identification documents prior to their release;
establishes and revises certain grants;
requires a state or tribe that receives certain funding to report on use-of-force incidents involving a law enforcement officer and a civilian; and
prohibits racial profiling by law enforcement.

What's happening now March 7, 2019

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Related & companion bills 19

Bill text 1 version

Introduced in Senate Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

Committees of jurisdiction 1

Judiciary Committee
Senate

Cosponsors 1

Markey, Edward J.

Massachusetts · Feb 10, 2020

Cite this page click to expand

APA

U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 697: Next Step Act of 2019. 116th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/116-S-697/

MLA

"S. 697: Next Step Act of 2019." 116th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/116-S-697/.

Bluebook (legal)

S. 697, 116th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/116-S-697/.

Markdown link

[S. 697: Next Step Act of 2019](https://openamerica.io/bill/116-S-697/)