By Ruth Brown, Idaho Reports
A bill that would have added fentanyl to the list of drugs that come with mandatory minimum prison sentences failed to make it out of a legislative committee last year. It came back on Wednesday with changes that altered the amount of fentanyl a person must possess for it to qualify as trafficking.
Idaho already has mandatory minimum sentences on the books for trafficking drugs such as marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. Fentanyl is not yet on the list.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Chris Allgood, R-Caldwell, introduced a new version of the bill to the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee. The legislation includes a new section for a drug-induced homicide charge, or a punishment for giving a person a drug that kills them.
Under the bill, a person could be sentenced for trafficking fentanyl and would face a mandatory minimum of three years in prison for knowingly possessing 4 grams to less than 14 grams, or 100 pills to less than 250 fentanyl pills.
For possessing 14 to less than 28 grams of fentanyl or 250 pills to less than 500 pills, the mandatory minimum increases to five years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
For possessing 28 grams or more, or 500 pills or more of fentanyl, the mandatory minimum sentence would be 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
The maximum sentence for trafficking fentanyl would be life in prison and a $100,000 fine. A second offense for trafficking fentanyl, under the proposed law, would result in a mandatory minimum sentence twice what is otherwise required under the bill.
Last year during testimony, police focused on the rate of overdose deaths due to the drug, while defense attorneys focused on the weight of a drug not necessarily being indicative of whether the person is a user or a dealer.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reported that the state saw 270 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2022, and 49 percent of those involved fentanyl.
Under Allgood’s bill, if a person is guilty of drug-induced homicide, a prosecutor must prove the victim died of drug ingestion. The person who supplied the drug would face a felony conviction punishable by up to life in prison.
The committee is scheduled to give the bill a full hearing on Friday morning.
The Citizens Action Group on fentanyl, which Gov. Brad Little’s office put together as part of his Operation Esto Perpetua project, did recommend harsher sentencing options for high-volume dealers and suppliers as part of their observational report in 2022. The group did not specify what that appropriate sentence should be.
The Idaho Republican Party voiced support for a fentanyl mandatory minimum policy at its winter meeting earlier this month. The topic came up at the Idaho GOP Legislative Launch with party chairwoman Dorothy Moon on last week prior to the governor’s State of the State address, where Moon urged lawmakers to approach the topic with caution.
“This is a slippery slope,” Moon said. “Mandatory minimums are not the favorite of a lot of legislators in this building. Sometimes you have to question, does a judge know better? You want to make sure there’s no unintended consequences in any bill where all of a sudden some kid who’s 18 years old sitting in a passenger seat is caught in this dragnet of getting the trafficker who’s driving, and sentenced and put away for years. This has got to be very carefully structured should it come forward again this year.”
Ruth Brown | Producer
Ruth Brown grew up in South Dakota and her first job out of college was covering the South Dakota Legislature. She’s since moved on to Idaho lawmakers. Brown spent 10 years working in print journalism, including newspapers such as the Idaho Statesman and Idaho Press, where she’s covered everything from the correctional system to health care issues. She joined Idaho Reports in 2021 and looks forward to telling stories about how state policy can impact the lives of regular Idahoans.