S. 79 117th Congress Senate

EQUAL Act

Official title: A bill to eliminate the disparity in sentencing for cocaine offenses, and for other purposes.

Introduced: January 28, 2021 Introduced by: Cory A. Booker Democratic · New Jersey See on congress.gov

Crime and Law Enforcement Criminal procedure and sentencingDrug trafficking and controlled substances

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Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Jan 28, 2021

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Jan 28, 2021

Introduced in Senate

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Latest action January 28, 2021

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act or the EQUAL Act

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 resentencing of a defendant who was convicted or sentenced for a crack cocaine offense before the date of enactment.

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