AMENDMENT 100

Amendment: Section 2B1.1(b)(6) is amended by deleting "organized criminal activity" and inserting in lieu thereof "an organized scheme to steal vehicles or vehicle parts".

The Commentary to §2B1.1 captioned "Application Notes" is amended by deleting:

"8. ‘Organized criminal activity’ refers to operations such as car theft rings or ‘chop shops,’ where the scope of the activity is clearly significant.",

and inserting in lieu thereof:

"8. Subsection (b)(6), referring to an ‘organized scheme to steal vehicles or vehicle parts,’ provides an alternative minimum measure of loss in the case of an ongoing, sophisticated operation such as an auto theft ring or ‘chop shop.’ ‘Vehicles’ refers to all forms of vehicles, including aircraft and watercraft.".

The Commentary to §2B1.1 captioned "Background" is amended in the last paragraph by deleting:

"A minimum offense level of 14 is provided for organized criminal activity, i.e., operations such as car theft rings or ‘chop shops,’ where the scope of the activity is clearly significant but difficult to estimate. The guideline is structured so that if reliable information enables the court to estimate a volume of property loss that would result in a higher offense level, the higher offense level would govern.",

and inserting in lieu thereof:

"A minimum offense level of 14 is provided for offenses involving an organized scheme to steal vehicles or vehicle parts. Typically, the scope of such activity is substantial (i.e., the value of the stolen property, combined with an enhancement for ‘more than minimal planning’ would itself result in an offense level of at least 14), but the value of the property is particularly difficult to ascertain in individual cases because the stolen property is rapidly resold or otherwise disposed of in the course of the offense. Therefore, the specific offense characteristic of ‘organized scheme’ is used as an alternative to ‘loss’ in setting the offense level.".

Reason for Amendment: The purpose of this amendment is to clarify the coverage of a specific offense characteristic.

Effective Date: The effective date of this amendment is November 1, 1989.