The Coast Guard Authorization Act (CGAA) of 2024 brings several changes aimed at enhancing the MDLEA. The proposed changes by the 118th Congress are the following:
Section 70503(a) of title 46, United States Code, is amended-
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking ‘While on board a covered vessel, an individual’ and inserting ‘An individual’;
(2) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
‘(1) manufacture or distribute, possess with intent to manufacture or distribute, or place or cause to be placed with intent to manufacture or distribute a controlled substance on board a covered vessel;’; and
(3) in paragraph (2) by inserting ‘aboard a covered vessel’ after ‘Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 (21 U.S.C. 881(a))’.
See 118th CONGRESS, 2nd Session, 118th CONGRESS, 2nd Session. The amendments were proposed by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on 8 May 2024, and they passed the House on 14 May 2024. If the CGAA of 2024 becomes a law, the MDLEA will read:
(a) Prohibitions. An individual may not knowingly or intentionally—
(1) manufacture or distribute, possess with intent to manufacture or distribute, or place or cause to be placed with intent to manufacture or distribute a controlled substance on board a covered vessel;
(2) destroy (including jettisoning any item or scuttling, burning, or hastily cleaning a vessel), or attempt or conspire to destroy, property that is subject to forfeiture under section 511(a) of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 (21 U.S.C. 881(a)) aboard a covered vessel; or
(3) conceal, or attempt or conspire to conceal, more than $100,000 in currency or other monetary instruments on the person of such individual or in any conveyance, article of luggage, merchandise, or other container, or compartment of or aboard the covered vessel if that vessel is outfitted for smuggling.
(b) Extension beyond territorial jurisdiction. Subsection (a) applies even though the act is committed outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.
(c) Nonapplication.
(1) In general. Subject to paragraph (2), subsection (a) does not apply to–
(A) a common or contract carrier or an employee of the carrier who possesses or distributes a controlled substance in the lawful and usual course of the carrier’s business; or
(B) a public vessel of the United States or an individual on board the vessel who possesses or distributes a controlled substance in the lawful course of the individual’s duties.
(2) Entered in manifest. Paragraph (1) applies only if the controlled substance is part of the cargo entered in the vessel’s manifest and is intended to be imported lawfully into the country of destination for scientific, medical, or other lawful purposes.
(d) Burden of proof. The United States Government is not required to negative a defense provided by subsection (c) in a complaint, information, indictment, or other pleading or in a trial or other proceeding. The burden of going forward with the evidence supporting the defense is on the person claiming its benefit.
(e) Covered vessel defined. In this section the term “covered vessel” means—
(1) a vessel of the United States or a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; or
(2) any other vessel if the individual is a citizen of the United States or a resident alien of the United States.