california legislature—2023–24 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 701
Introduced by Assembly Member Villapudua Members Villapudua and Petrie-Norris
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bains, Ortega, and Blanca Rubio) February 13, 2023
An act to amend Sections 11370.4 and 11372 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to controlled substances.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 701, as introduced, Villapudua. Controlled substances: fentanyl.
Existing law classifies controlled substances into 5 schedules and places the greatest restrictions and penalties on the use of those substances placed in Schedule I. Existing law classifies the drug fentanyl in Schedule II. Existing law prohibits a person from possessing for sale or purchasing for purposes of sale specified controlled substances, including fentanyl, and provides for imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years for a violation of this pro vision. Existing la w also imposes an additional term, and authorizes a trial court to impose a specified fine, upon a person who is con victed of a violation of, or of a conspiracy to violate, specified pro visions of la w with respect to a substance containing heroin, cocaine base, and cocaine, if the substance exceeds a specified weight.
This bill w ould impose that additional term upon, and authorize a fine ag ainst, a defendant who violates those la ws with respect to a substance containing fentanyl. By increasing the penalty for a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Revised 5-18-23—See last page. 99
The California Constitution requires the state to reimb urse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state.
Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 11370.4 of the Health and Safety Code line 2 is amended to read:
line 3 11370.4. (a) Any (1) A person convicted of a violation of, line 4 or of a conspirac y to violate, Section 11351, 11351.5, or 11352 line 5 with respect to a substance containing heroin, fentanyl, cocaine line 6 base as specified in paragraph (1) of subdi vision (f) of Section line 7 11054, or cocaine as specified in paragraph (6) of subdivision (b) line 8 of Section 11055 shall receive an additional term as follows:
line 9 (1) Where
line 10 (A) If the substance exceeds one kilogram by weight, the person line 11 shall receive an additional term of three years. line 12 (2) Where
line 13 (B) If the substance e xceeds four kilograms by weight, the line 14 person shall receive an additional term of five years. line 15 (3) Where
line 16 (C) If the substance exceeds 10 kilograms by weight, the person line 17 shall receive an additional term of 10 years.
line 18 (4) Where
line 19 (D) If the substance exceeds 20 kilograms by weight, the person line 20 shall receive an additional term of 15 years.
line 21 (5) Where
line 22 (E) If the substance exceeds 40 kilograms by weight, the person line 23 shall receive an additional term of 20 years.
line 24 (6) Where
line 25 (F) If the substance exceeds 80 kilograms by weight, the person line 26 shall receive an additional term of 25 years.
line 27 The
line 28 (2) The conspirac y enhancements pro vided for in this line 29 subdivision shall not be imposed unless the trier of fact finds that line 30 the defendant conspirator w as substantially in volved in the 99 — 2 — AB 701
line 1 planning, direction, e xecution, or financing of the underlying line 2 offense.
line 3 (b) Any (1) A person con victed of a violation of, or of line 4 conspiracy to violate, Section 11378, 11378.5, 11379, or 11379.5 line 5 with respect to a substance containing methamphetamine, line 6 amphetamine, phencyclidine (PCP) and its analogs shall recei ve line 7 an additional term as follows:
line 8 (1) Where
line 9 (A) If the substance exceeds one kilogram by weight, or 30 liters line 10 by liquid volume, the person shall recei ve an additional term of line 11 three years.
line 12 (2) Where
line 13 (B) If the substance exceeds four kilograms by weight, or 100 line 14 liters by liquid volume, the person shall receive an additional term line 15 of five years.
line 16 (3) Where
line 17 (C) If the substance e xceeds 10 kilograms by weight, or 200 line 18 liters by liquid volume, the person shall receive an additional term line 19 of 10 years.
line 20 (4) Where
line 21 (D) If the substance e xceeds 20 kilograms by weight, or 400 line 22 liters by liquid volume, the person shall receive an additional term line 23 of 15 years.
line 24 In
line 25 (2) In computing the quantities in volved in this subdi vision, line 26 plant or vegetable material seized shall not be included. line 27 The
line 28 (3) The conspirac y enhancements pro vided for in this line 29 subdivision shall not be imposed unless the trier of fact finds that line 30 the defendant conspirator w as substantially in volved in the line 31 planning, direction, e xecution, or financing of the underlying line 32 offense.
line 33 (c) The additional terms pro vided in this section shall not be line 34 imposed unless the alle gation that the weight of the substance line 35 containing heroin, fentanyl, cocaine base as specified in paragraph line 36 (1) of subdi vision (f) of Section 11054, cocaine as specified in line 37 paragraph (6) of subdi vision (b) of Section 11055, line 38 methamphetamine, amphetamine, or phencyclidine (PCP) and its line 39 analogs exceeds the amounts pro vided in this section is char ged 99 AB 701 — 3 —
line 1 in the accusatory pleading and admitted or found to be true by the line 2 trier of fact.
line 3 (d) The additional terms pro vided in this section shall be in line 4 addition to any other punishment provided by law. line 5 (e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the court may line 6 strike the additional punishment for the enhancements pro vided line 7 in this section if it determines that there are circumstances in line 8 mitigation of the additional punishment and states on the record line 9 its reasons for striking the additional punishment. line 10 SEC. 2. Section 11372 of the Health and Safety Code is line 11 amended to read:
line 12 11372. (a) In addition to the term of imprisonment provided line 13 by law for persons convicted of violating Section 11350, 11351, line 14 11351.5, 11352, 11353, 11355, 11359, 11360, or 11361, the trial line 15 court may impose a fine not e xceeding twenty thousand dollars line 16 ($20,000) for each offense. In no event A fine shall a fine not be line 17 levied in lieu of or in substitution for the term of imprisonment line 18 provided by law for any of these offenses.
line 19 (b) Any A person recei ving an additional term pursuant to line 20 subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdi vision (a) of Section line 21 11370.4, may, in addition, be fined by an amount not e xceeding line 22 one million dollars ($1,000,000) for each offense. line 23 (c) Any A person recei ving an additional term pursuant to line 24 subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) (1) of subdivision (a) of Section line 25 11370.4, may, in addition, be fined by an amount not to e xceed line 26 four million dollars ($4,000,000) for each offense. line 27 (d) Any A person recei ving an additional term pursuant to line 28 subparagraph (C) of paragraph (3) (1) of subdivision (a) of Section line 29 11370.4, may, in addition, be fined by an amount not to e xceed line 30 eight million dollars ($8,000,000) for each offense. line 31 (e) The court shall mak e a finding, prior to the imposition of line 32 the fines authorized by subdivisions (b) to (e), (d), inclusive, that line 33 there is a reasonable e xpectation that the fine, or a substantial line 34 portion thereof, could be collected within a reasonable period of line 35 time, taking into consideration the defendant’ s income, earning line 36 capacity, and financial resources.
line 37 SEC. 3. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to line 38 Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because line 39 the only costs that may be incurred by a local agenc y or school line 40 district will be incurred because this act creates a ne w crime or 99 — 4 — AB 701
line 1 infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty line 2 for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of line 3 the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within line 4 the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California line 5 Constitution.
line 6
line 7
REVISIONS: line 8
Heading—Line 1. line 9
line 10
O
99 AB 701 — 5 —