First Step Act

Key: what the circles and colors mean

Each circle is a bill. The ring fills as it moves through Congress:

IntroducedPassed one chamberPassed both chambersBecame law (gold)Resolution agreed to (full, dark)Failed or vetoed (gray)

Under the number: the Yea · Nay count of its final (or latest) recorded vote. On a member's page, the small badge is how that member voted: Y Yea / Aye, N Nay / No, P Present, – Not voting.

Gold and violet are only for Yea and Nay; they never mean a party. A member's party is the letter on their photo.

Never voted on. It didn't reach a floor vote before the 115th Congress ended, so it expired. A bill has to be introduced again to be considered in a new Congress.

R GrassleySponsor

42 cosponsors · 23 D, 18 R, 1 I

11 signed on when it was introduced; the rest joined later. Cosponsors who withdrew aren't shown.

This bill amends various provisions of law and sets forth new provisions:

What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in Senate · Nov 15, 2018

First Step Act

This bill amends various provisions of law and sets forth new provisions:

to require the Department of Justice to establish and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to implement a risk and needs assessment system;
to modify the computation of good time credit;
to allow federal correctional officers to securely store and carry concealed firearms on BOP premises outside the security perimeter of a prison;
to limit the use of restraints on federal prisoners who are pregnant or in postpartum recovery;
to reduce mandatory minimum prison terms for certain nonviolent repeat drug offenses;
to broaden the existing safety valve to permit a sentence below the mandatory minimum for certain nonviolent, cooperative drug offenders with a limited criminal history;
to make the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 retroactive;
to require prisoners to be placed within 500 miles of their primary residence;
to require low-risk prisoners to be placed on home confinement for the maximum amount of time permitted;
to reauthorize through FY2022 and modify eligibility for an elderly offender early release pilot program;
to require the BOP to help prisoners obtain identification documents prior to release, to incorporate de-escalation procedures into training programs, and to make tampons and sanitary napkins available free of charge;
to authorize Federal Prison Industries to sell products to additional markets;
to require probation and pretrial services officers to perform court-directed supervision of sex offenders conditionally released from civil commitment;
to require the BOP to establish pilot programs on youth mentorship and service to abandoned, rescued, or vulnerable animals; and
to limit juvenile solitary confinement.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov

About this bill and sources

Official title: First Step Act

Latest action (Nov 26, 2018): Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 674.

Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement · Origin: Senate · Introduced: Nov 15, 2018

Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML)

No recorded floor vote found.