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Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act of 2025
To amend title 18, United States Code, to punish the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death as felony murder.
Summary
The bill amends federal law to classify the distribution of fentanyl that results in death as first-degree murder. A person would be charged under this provision if they distribute two grams or more of a fentanyl mixture (or 0.5 grams or more of a fentanyl analogue), the distribution results in someone's death, and the person knew or reasonably should have known the substance contained fentanyl. Conviction for murder in the first degree by distributing fentanyl would be punishable by death or life imprisonment. The bill does not change the definition or penalties for other drug offenses or other forms of murder.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Ernst, Joni [R-IA] (R-IA)
10 cosponsors
- Sen. Britt, Katie Boyd [R-AL] (R-AL)
- Sen. Budd, Ted [R-NC] (R-NC)
- Sen. Cruz, Ted [R-TX] (R-TX)
- Sen. Daines, Steve [R-MT] (R-MT)
- Sen. Hagerty, Bill [R-TN] (R-TN)
- Sen. Hyde-Smith, Cindy [R-MS] (R-MS)
- Sen. Justice, James C. [R-WV] (R-WV)
- Sen. Lankford, James [R-OK] (R-OK)
- Sen. Ricketts, Pete [R-NE] (R-NE)
- Sen. Scott, Rick [R-FL] (R-FL)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Joni Ernst’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $57,653
- CAPITAL GROUP $40,000
- SOROBAN CAPITAL $13,200
- CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES $7,500
- GOOGLE $6,800
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Joni Ernst → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Apr 29, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. · senate
- Apr 29, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 29, 2025
Ms. Ernst (for herself, Mr. Budd, Mrs. Britt, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, and Mr. Hagerty) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to punish the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death as felony murder.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. FENTANYL DISTRIBUTION RESULTING IN DEATH PUNISHED AS FELONY MURDER.
Section 1111 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), in the second sentence, by inserting “, distributing fentanyl” after “child abuse”;
(2) in subsection (b)—
(A) by striking “(b) Within” and inserting
“(b)(1) Within”; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
“(2) Whoever is guilty of murder in the first degree by distributing fentanyl shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for life.”; and
(3) in subsection (c)—
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (4) through (6) as paragraphs (6) through (8), respectively; and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
“(4) the terms ‘controlled substance’ and ‘distribute’ have the meanings given the terms in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802);
“(5) ‘distributing fentanyl’ means to distribute a controlled substance—
“(A) involving 2 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of N-phenyl-N- [1-(2-phenylethyl)-4-piperidinyl] propanamide or .5 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of any analogue of N-phenyl-N-[1-(2- phenylethyl)-4-piperidinyl] propanamide;
“(B) that results in death from the use of a mixture or substance described in subparagraph (A); and
“(C) knowing or having reason to know that the controlled substance contains a detectable amount of a mixture or substance described in subparagraph (A).”. <all>
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