The Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee heard Sen. Koch’s SB 519 on drug penalties. The bill provides that if a person commits the offense of dealing or an attempt or conspiracy to commit dealing; in a controlled substance, the person may be tried in any county where the person performed an act in furtherance of the offense. The bill also replaces heroin with cocaine or a narcotic drug in certain offense enhancements in the offense of dealing in cocaine or a narcotic drug and adds an element to certain offense enhancements relating to controlled substances by aggregating the weight of a drug over a period of not more than 90 days. Additionally, a court may suspend only that part of a sentence that is in excess of the minimum sentence for a person convicted of a Level 2 or Level 3 felony who is convicted of certain offenses relating to controlled substances as a Level 2 or Level 3 felony and has a prior unrelated felony conviction.
The bill was amended by consent to remove provisions making certain controlled substances offenses non-suspendible. Representatives from the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council and the Office of the Attorney General testified in support of the bill. The Indiana Public Defender Council testified in opposition to the bill. The amended bill passed 8-1.
Read the bill at http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2019/bills/senate/519