[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2741 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2741

 To authorize the United States Postal Service to inspect the contents 
of certain suspicious packages for illicit materials without a warrant.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 24, 2018

  Mr. Cassidy (for himself and Ms. Baldwin) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland 
                   Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize the United States Postal Service to inspect the contents 
of certain suspicious packages for illicit materials without a warrant.

    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 ``Search Now, Inspect for Fentanyl Act 
of 2018'' or the ``SNIFF Act''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORITY OF UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE TO INSPECT CERTAIN 
              SUSPICIOUS PACKAGES.

    Section 404 of title 39, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``(f) Authority To Inspect Certain Suspicious Packages.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection--
                    ``(A) the term `covered package' means a package 
                that--
                            ``(i) originated outside the United States; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) is addressed to a location within 
                        the United States;
                    ``(B) the term `qualified employee' means an 
                employee of the Postal Service who has been properly 
                trained to inspect the contents of covered packages; 
                and
                    ``(C) the term `United States' includes any 
                territory or possession of the United States.
            ``(2) Authority.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B), and notwithstanding subsection (c), 
                if a qualified employee acting in his or her official 
                capacity at an international service center that 
                processes inbound international mail has probable cause 
                to believe that a covered package contains illicit 
                materials, including matter that is nonmailable under 
                section 3001, the employee shall, without obtaining a 
                search warrant, inspect the contents of the covered 
                package.
                    ``(B) Safety exception.--The requirement under 
                subparagraph (A) shall not apply with respect to a 
                covered package if a qualified employee believes that 
                inspecting the contents of the covered package would 
                pose a risk of personal injury to the employee or other 
                individuals.
            ``(3) Rules of construction.--Nothing in paragraph (2) 
        shall be construed to authorize--
                    ``(A) any employee of the Postal Service to inspect 
                a covered package, after the package has entered the 
                domestic distribution network, without obtaining a 
                search warrant; or
                    ``(B) any person to read correspondence contained 
                in a covered package without obtaining a search 
                warrant.''.
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