california legislature—2023–24 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 3171
Introduced by Assembly Member Soria
February 16, 2024
An act to amend Sections 11351 and 11352 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to controlled substances.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 3171, as introduced, Soria. 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 makes possession of a controlled substance for the purposes of sale of the substance punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period of 2, 3, or 4 years. Existing la w makes transportation and sales of a controlled substances punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period of 3, 4, or 5 years and transportation to a noncontiguous county within the state punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period of 3, 6, or 9 years.
This bill would increase the above-described penalties, as specified, if the controlled substance in volved was more than more than 28.35 grams of fentanyl, more than 28.35 grams of an analog of fentan yl, a substance containing more than 28.35 grams of fentanyl, or a substance containing more than 28.35 grams of an analog of fentan yl. By increasing the penalty for a crime, this bill w ould impose a state-mandated local program.
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.
99 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 11351 of the Health and Safety Code is line 2 amended to read:
line 3 11351. (a) Except as pr ovided in subdivision (b) and as line 4 otherwise provided in this division, every a person who possesses line 5 for sale or purchases for purposes of sale (1) an y controlled line 6 substance specified in subdivision (b), (c), or (e) of Section 11054, line 7 specified in paragraph (14), (15), or (20) of subdi vision (d) of line 8 Section 11054, or specified in subdi vision (b) or (c) of Section line 9 11055, or specified in subdivision (h) of Section 11056, or (2) any line 10 controlled substance classified in Schedule III, IV, or V which is line 11 a narcotic drug, shall be punished by imprisonment pursuant to line 12 subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for two, three, line 13 or four years.
line 14 (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a per son who possesses line 15 for sale or purchases for purposes of sale more than 28.35 grams line 16 of fentanyl, mor e than 28.35 gr ams of an analo g of fentanyl, a line 17 substance containing mor e than 28.35 gr ams of fentanyl, or a line 18 substance containing mor e than 28.35 gr ams of an analo g of line 19 fentanyl shall be punished by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision line 20 (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for four, five, or six years. line 21 SEC. 2. Section 11352 of the Health and Safety Code is line 22 amended to read:
line 23 11352. (a) Except as pr ovided in subdivision (c) and as line 24 otherwise provided in this division, every a person who transports, line 25 imports into this state, sells, furnishes, administers, or gives away, line 26 or offers to transport, import into this state, sell, furnish, administer, line 27 or give away, or attempts to import into this state or transport (1) line 28 any controlled substance specified in subdi vision (b), (c), or (e), line 29 or paragraph (1) of subdivision (f) of Section 11054, specified in line 30 paragraph (14), (15), or (20) of subdivision (d) of Section 11054, line 31 or specified in subdivision (b) or (c) of Section 11055, or specified line 32 in subdivision (h) of Section 11056, or (2) any controlled substance line 33 classified in Schedule III, IV, or V which is a narcotic drug, unless 99 — 2 — AB 3171
line 1 upon the written prescription of a physician, dentist, podiatrist, or line 2 veterinarian licensed to practice in this state, shall be punished by line 3 imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the line 4 Penal Code for three, four, or five years.
line 5 (b) Notwithstanding the penalty provisions of subdivision (a), line 6 any (a) and e xcept as pr ovided in par agraph (2) of subdivision line 7 (c), a person who transports an y controlled substances specified line 8 in subdivision (a) within this state from one county to another line 9 noncontiguous county shall be punished by imprisonment pursuant line 10 to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for three, six, line 11 or nine years.
line 12 (c) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a per son who line 13 transports, imports into this state, sells, furnishes, administers, or line 14 gives away , or of fers to tr ansport, import into this state , sell, line 15 furnish, administer, or give away, or attempts to import into this line 16 state or transport more than 28.35 grams of fentanyl, more than line 17 28.35 grams of an analog of fentanyl, a substance containing more line 18 than 28.35 grams of fentanyl, or a substance containing more than line 19 28.35 gr ams of an analo g of fentanyl shall be punished by line 20 imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the line 21 Penal Code for seven, eight, or nine years.
line 22 (2) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), a per son who tr ansports line 23 more than 28.35 grams of fentanyl, more than 28.35 grams of an line 24 analog of fentanyl, a substance containing more than 28.35 grams line 25 of fentanyl, or a substance containing mor e than 28.35 grams of line 26 an analog of fentanyl within this state from one county to another line 27 noncontiguous county shall be punished by imprisonment pursuant line 28 to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for 7, 10, or line 29 13 years.
line 30 (c)
line 31 (d) For purposes of this section, “transports” means to transport line 32 for sale.
line 33 (d)
line 34 (e) This section does not preclude or limit the prosecution of line 35 an indi vidual for aiding and abetting the commission of, or line 36 conspiring to commit, or acting as an accessory to, an y act line 37 prohibited by this section.
line 38 SEC. 3. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to line 39 Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because line 40 the only costs that may be incurred by a local agenc y or school 99 AB 3171 — 3 —
line 1 district will be incurred because this act creates a ne w crime or line 2 infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty line 3 for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of line 4 the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within line 5 the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California line 6 Constitution.
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99 — 4 — AB 3171