1:18 Crack Cocaine Disparity Bill Set to PASS House TODAY

House set to pass disparity bill... From 1:100 to 1:18

S. 1789 SET TO PASS HOUSE TODAY. Today should be the day the House passes legislation to close the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. Back on March 17, the Senate passed their version of Rep. Bobby Scott’s legislation on the House side that would have made the crack/powder penalties equal.  Of course, there is no good reason anyone an come up with as to why the penalty is not equal.  Sen. Dick Durbin was somehow able to get Sens. Tom Coburn, Orrin Hatch and Jeff Sessions to agree to closing the disparity from 1:100 to 1:18.  If the 1:18 agreement should be approved by the House today and signed into law by President Obama soon after. S. 1789, the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, would be the first major change in the crack cocaine/powder cocaine sentencing laws in 27 years.

Rep. Bobby Scott

PLAYMAKERS: REP. SCOTT + SEN. DURBIN. The two people who made this happen are Rep. Bobby Scott and Sen. Dick Durbin.  The change is 24 years in the making… and in the waiting. Color of Change and other groups are already out there hootin’ n hollarin’ that a 1:18 change is not enough and that the disparity should be closed completely and the sentencing disparity eliminated. Really? No kidding? The thing to pay attention to is that this is the first major change in 27 years.  Think of all the people who were tossed in jail (on a five year mandatory) over the last 27 years because they happned to be carrying crack cocaine instead of powder cocaine.