1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to crime; creating an advisory task force to 
  1.3             study and evaluate the current criminal controlled 
  1.4             substance laws; requiring a report; appropriating 
  1.5             money.  
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  [TASK FORCE TO EVALUATE CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE 
  1.8   CRIMES.] 
  1.9      Subdivision 1.  [CREATION; MEMBERSHIP.] An advisory task 
  1.10  force is created to study and evaluate the criminal controlled 
  1.11  substance laws codified in Minnesota Statutes, sections 152.021 
  1.12  to 152.029.  The task force consists of the following 20 members:
  1.13     (1) the director of the sentencing guidelines commission; 
  1.14     (2) the commissioner of corrections or the commissioner's 
  1.15  designee; 
  1.16     (3) a district judge selected by the conference of chief 
  1.17  judges; 
  1.18     (4) a county attorney selected by the Minnesota county 
  1.19  attorneys association; 
  1.20     (5) a public defender selected by the state public 
  1.21  defender; 
  1.22     (6) a peace officer selected by the Minnesota police and 
  1.23  peace officers association; 
  1.24     (7) two members of the senate appointed by the senate 
  1.25  subcommittee on committees, one from each political caucus; 
  2.1      (8) two members of the house of representatives appointed 
  2.2   by the speaker of the house, one from each political caucus; 
  2.3      (9) two drug treatment professionals selected by the 
  2.4   commissioner of human services; 
  2.5      (10) the commissioner of public safety or the 
  2.6   commissioner's designee; 
  2.7      (11) a representative from the association of Minnesota 
  2.8   counties; 
  2.9      (12) a representative from the Minnesota association of 
  2.10  community corrections act counties; 
  2.11     (13) a representative from the Minnesota association of 
  2.12  county probation officers; 
  2.13     (14) a representative from the council on Black 
  2.14  Minnesotans; 
  2.15     (15) a representative from the council on Asian-Pacific 
  2.16  Minnesotans; 
  2.17     (16) a representative from the Indian affairs council; and 
  2.18     (17) a representative from the council on affairs of 
  2.19  Chicano/Latino people.  
  2.20     The task force shall select a chair from among its 
  2.21  members.  The task force may use staff from the legislature, the 
  2.22  office of strategic and long-range planning, and the agencies 
  2.23  represented on the task force to assist with its work.  
  2.24     Subd. 2.  [DUTIES.] The task force shall evaluate the 
  2.25  implementation, effectiveness, and impact of the criminal 
  2.26  controlled substance laws since their enactment in 1989, in 
  2.27  comparison to the criminal controlled substance laws in effect 
  2.28  before the 1989 recodification.  Specifically, the task force 
  2.29  shall study: 
  2.30     (1) how controlled substance cases currently are handled by 
  2.31  the criminal justice system in terms of state and local law 
  2.32  enforcement, prosecution, and sentencing practices, including 
  2.33  charge and sentence negotiation practices, as compared to the 
  2.34  pre-1989 law; 
  2.35     (2) the severity of current criminal penalties to determine 
  2.36  whether the law's reliance on the current threshold amounts of 
  3.1   controlled substances sold or possessed is objectively based 
  3.2   and, if so, whether the quantities outlined in current law 
  3.3   appropriately reflect the seriousness of the conduct described 
  3.4   in each degree of the crime; 
  3.5      (3) the penalties contained in current law, including the 
  3.6   presumptive sentences assigned to controlled substance crimes 
  3.7   under the sentencing guidelines, and determine if they are 
  3.8   proportionate to the seriousness of the conduct, in comparison 
  3.9   to other felony-level crimes; and 
  3.10     (4) the impact on neighborhoods and communities of the 
  3.11  current statutory provision permitting aggregation of controlled 
  3.12  substance amounts sold by the same person within a 90-day period.
  3.13     Subd. 3.  [REPORT.] The task force shall report its 
  3.14  findings and recommendations to the chairs of the senate crime 
  3.15  prevention committee and the house judiciary committee on or 
  3.16  before January 15, 1998. 
  3.17     Subd. 4.  [EXPENSES; EXPIRATION.] Members of the task force 
  3.18  shall receive expenses as provided in Minnesota Statutes, 
  3.19  section 15.059, subdivision 6.  The task force expires on 
  3.20  January 15, 1998. 
  3.21     Sec. 2.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  3.22     $....... is appropriated from the general fund to the 
  3.23  office of strategic and long-range planning for the fiscal year 
  3.24  ending June 30, 1998, for the purpose of administering the task 
  3.25  force created in section 1.