[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2600 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  2d Session
                                S. 2600

  To amend section 402 of the Controlled Substances Act to reform the 
     civil remedy provisions relating to recordkeeping violations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

              October 9 (legislative day, October 2), 1998

   Mr. Hatch introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend section 402 of the Controlled Substances Act to reform the 
     civil remedy provisions relating to recordkeeping violations.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Controlled Substances Civil Penalty 
Reform Act of 1998''.

SEC. 2. CIVIL PENALTY REFORM.

    Section 402 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 842) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (5), by inserting ``negligently'' 
                after ``(5)''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (10), by inserting ``negligently'' 
                after ``(10)'';
            (2) in subsection (c)(1)--
                    (A) by striking ``Except as provided in paragraph 
                (2)'' and inserting ``(A) Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B) of this paragraph and in paragraph 
                (2)''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(B) In the case of a violation of paragraph (5) or (10) of 
subsection (a) in which, a result of the violation, no unauthorized 
person obtains unlawful control of a controlled substance, the amount 
of the civil penalty shall not exceed $10,000.''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) Civil Actions for Recordkeeping Violations.--
            ``(1) In general.--In deciding whether to pursue a civil 
        action associated with a violation of paragraph (5) or (10) of 
        subsection (a), the Attorney General shall consider--
                    ``(A) whether diversion actually occurred;
                    ``(B) whether actual harm to the public resulted 
                from the diversion;
                    ``(C) whether the violations were intentional or 
                negligent in nature;
                    ``(D) whether the violations were a first time 
                offense;
                    ``(E) time intervals between inspections where no 
                or any serious violations were found;
                    ``(F) whether the violations were multiple 
                occurrences of the same type of violation;
                    ``(G) whether and to what extent financial profits 
                may have resulted from the diversion; and
                    ``(H) the financial capacity of registrants to pay 
                the fines assessed.
            ``(2) Factors for consideration; informal procedures.--In 
        determining whether to assess a penalty under subsection (c) 
        for a violation of paragraph (5) or (10) of subsection (a) and, 
        if so, the amount of the penalty, the Attorney General, may--
                    ``(A) take into account whether the violator has 
                taken immediate and effective corrective actions, 
                including demonstrating the existence of compliance 
                procedures, in order to reduce the potential for any 
                future violations; and
                    ``(B) follow informal procedures such as sending 1 
                or more warning letters to the violator, as the 
                Attorney General determines to be appropriate.''.
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