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Smarter Pretrial Detention for Drug Charges Act of 2026
To give Federal courts additional discretion to determine whether pretrial detention is appropriate for defendants charged with nonviolent drug offenses in Federal criminal cases.
Summary
This bill would amend federal criminal procedure law to give federal courts greater discretion in deciding whether to detain defendants before trial when charged with nonviolent drug offenses. Currently, certain mandatory detention provisions limit judicial discretion in these cases. The bill modifies Section 3142 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which governs release and detention conditions in federal criminal cases, and updates outdated legal references. The changes would allow judges more flexibility to consider individual circumstances when making pretrial detention decisions for nonviolent drug offenses.
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)
3 cosponsors
- Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE] (D-DE)
- Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT] (R-UT)
- Sen. Wicker, Roger F. [R-MS] (R-MS)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Richard J. Durbin’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- SIMMONS HANLY CONROY LLC $19,133
- THE GORI LAW FIRM $18,300
- CLIFFORD LAW OFFICES PC $17,750
- POWER ROGERS & SMITH LLP $17,300
- MAUNE RAICHLE HARTLEY FRENCH & MUDD $14,638
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Richard J. Durbin → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Mar 2, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text: CR S735) · senate
- Mar 2, 2026 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
March 2, 2026
Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Lee, Mr. Coons, and Mr. Wicker) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To give Federal courts additional discretion to determine whether pretrial detention is appropriate for defendants charged with nonviolent drug offenses in Federal criminal cases.
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 “Smarter Pretrial Detention for Drug Charges Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. RELEASE CONDITIONS AND DETENTION IN FEDERAL CRIMINAL CASES.
Section 3142 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking “(42 U.S.C. 14135a)” each place it appears and inserting “(34 U.S.C. 40702)”; and
(2) in subsection (e)(3)—
(A) by striking subparagraph (A); and
(B) by redesignating subparagraphs (B), (C), (D), and (E) as subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and (D), respectively. <all>
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