AFP-GA: Congratulates Rep. Collins on Championing the First Step Act and Thanks Sen. Perdue for Co-Sponsoring the Bill

Dec 20, 2018 by AFP

Grassroots Group Declares Victory as FIRST STEP ACT Heads to President Trump’s Desk

Atlanta, GA – Today, Americans for Prosperity- Georgia (AFP-GA) celebrated the passage of the FIRST STEP Act, a package of critical criminal justice reforms. AFP-GA also praised Representative Doug Collins for authoring the Act and thanked Sen. David Perdue for co-sponsoring the bill. The FIRST STEP Act makes critical reforms to the federal criminal justice system by focusing on rehabilitating federally incarcerated people and giving them the tools needed to successfully reenter society upon release from prison.

The grassroots group also announced a direct mail and digital campaign touting Representative Collins and Senator Perdue’s leadership in ensuring this groundbreaking legislation was passed before the end of the year.

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AFP-GA state director Michael Harden issued the following statement:

“During this holiday season, Congressman Collins could not have given the American people a better gift than the FIRST STEP Act. Additionally, we applaud Senator David Perdue’s for co-sponsoring the measure. This bipartisan legislation makes commonsense and compassionate reforms that will empower federally incarcerated people to be closer to their families during their sentence, and better equip them to rejoin society upon release. As a leader in the criminal justice reform movement, Georgia has shown that a smart-on-crime, soft-on-taxpayers approach makes us all safer and helps improve people who deserve a second chance. AFP-GA applauds Congressman Collins and thanks Sen. Perdue for their work to reform our broken criminal justice system.”

Background

Freedom Partners signs coalition letter opposing amendments to First Step Act
Americans for Prosperity issues Key Vote Alert in support of the First Step Act
The FIRST STEP Act requires the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to place inmates no more than 500 driving miles from home, helping spouses, parents, and children more practically visit their family members behind bars and making it easier for inmates to reintegrate into society upon release.
Fixes a mistake in federal law to ensure that all well-behaved prisoners not serving life sentences can accrue 54 days of “good time credit” off their sentences per year, instead of the 47 per year that 178,000 inmates currently receive.
Directs the BOP to let low-risk low-needs inmates serve home confinement for up to 6 months of the end of their sentences.
Retroactively applies the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, which reduced the crack-cocaine sentencing disparity from 100:1 to 18:1, to current inmates sentenced before 2010s.
Expands eligibility for the federal “safety valve” (18 U.S.C. § 3553(f)) to keep more low-level drug offenders from incurring mandatory minimums meant for high-level drug traffickers, creating more proportional punishments.