First Step Act
Latest action. Read the second time. Placed on Senate legislative calendarThe list of measures reported out of committee and eligible for floor action. Being on the calendar is not a promise of a vote.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) under General Orders. Calendar No. 674.
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 analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on November 15, 2018. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on November 26, 2018: Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 674.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Charles Grassley (R-IA) introduced it on November 15, 2018, and 42 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 23 Democrats, 18 Republicans, 1 independent.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on November 15, 2018, 2856 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2845 days ago, on November 26, 2018.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers