• Made contacts to promote S. 2123, the Sentencing Reform and Corrections act of 2015, a bill to reform sentencing laws and correctional institutions, and for other purposes. This bipartisan compromise legislation includes both thoughtful, targeted federal sentencing reforms and federal prison reforms. Specifically supported the following sentencing reforms contained in the bill: The enhanced mandatory minimums for prior drug felons are reduced: the three-strike is reduced from life imprisonment to 25 years, and the 20-year minimum is reduced to 15 years. The offenses that trigger these enhanced minimum sentences are also reformed. This bill would both limit them to serious drug felonies and expand them to include serious violent felonies. This provision will apply retroactively. The existing safety valve is expanded to include offenders with up to four criminal history points. However, offenders with prior 3 point felony convictions or prior 2 point violent or drug trafficking offenses will not be eligible for the safety valve. But the safety valve will also adopt an existing mechanism under the Sentencing Guidelines to permit for a court to waive those disqualifying prior convictions if the court specifies in writing that those prior convictions substantially over-represent the seriousness of the defendants criminal history or the likelihood that the defendant will commit other crimes. A second safety valve is created that preserves but targets the existing 10-year mandatory minimum to (1) offenders who performed an enhanced role in the offense or (2) otherwise served as an importer, exporter, high-level distributor or supplier, wholesaler, or manufacturer. Consistent with the existing safety valve, the offender must not have used violence or a firearm or been a member of a continuing criminal enterprise, and the offense must not have resulted in death or serious bodily injury. In response to a Supreme Court decision, the bill clarifies that the enhanced mandatory minimum sentence for using a firearm in connection with a crime of violence or a drug trafficking offense is limited to offenders who have previously been convicted and served a sentence for such an offense. The bill also reduces that enhanced mandatory minimum from 25 years to 15 years. This provision will apply retroactively. The bill also eliminates a significant gap in current sentencing laws by reducing the enhanced mandatory minimum for armed career criminals from 15 years to 10 years. This provision will apply retroactively. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 reduced the disparity in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine. This bill ensures the retroactive application of that law to certain offenders.

Duration: September 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015

General Issues: Law Enforcement/Crime/Criminal Justice

Spending: about $100,000 (But it's complicated. Here's why.)

It can be tricky to figure out how much an organization spent on a particular lobbying engagement. The law only requires lobbyists to report the amount they were paid for federal lobbying each quarter rounded to the nearest $10,000—and if it's less than $3,000 in a given quarter (or less than $13,000 for organizations with in-house lobbyists), they don't have to disclose it at all. Plus, some organizations include spending that doesn’t belong in the report—for instance, money spent lobbying state governments or other legal work.

Agencies lobbied since 2014: U.S. Senate, House of Representatives