Description:
Current law requires manufacturers, distributors, and others who handle controlled substances to register with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and to report to that agency any suspicious orders of such substances. S. 2837 would change the current reporting procedures. The bill also would direct DEA to establish a centralized database for collecting those orders and to share the information with states. The agency is already working to develop such a database. Any additional administrative costs to DEA relating to suspicious orders would be paid from fees that the agency collects from registrants. Such fees are treated as reductions in direct spending, and DEA is authorized to spend them without further appropriation. CBO assumes that all collections (an estimated $400 million in fiscal year 2019) will be spent under current law, so enacting S. 2837 would have no significant net effect on spending by DEA. Because enacting S. 2837 would affect direct spending, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. The bill would not affect revenues. CBO estimates that enacting S. 2837 would not significantly increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029. S. 2837 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). The bill would codify a requirement under current law that registrants under the Controlled Substances Act identify and report suspicious orders. Such a codification would not be considered a mandate under UMRA.
