IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 724 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 23, 2019 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AN ACT 

To revise section 48 of title 18, United States Code, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


snicholson on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
2 

HR 724 RFS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Animal 

3 Cruelty and Torture Act’’ or the ‘‘PACT Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. REVISION OF SECTION 48. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 48 of title 18, United 

6 States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘§ 48. Animal crushing 

8 ‘‘(a) OFFENSES.— 

9 ‘‘(1) CRUSHING.—It shall be unlawful for any 

10 person to purposely engage in animal crushing in or 

11 affecting interstate or foreign commerce or within 

12 the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of 

13 the United States. 

14 ‘‘(2) CREATION OF ANIMAL CRUSH VIDEOS.—It 

15 shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly create 

16 an animal crush video, if— 

17 ‘‘(A) the person intends or has reason to 

18 know that the animal crush video will be dis19 tributed in, or using a means or facility of, 

20 interstate or foreign commerce; or 

21 ‘‘(B) the animal crush video is distributed 

22 in, or using a means or facility of, interstate or 

23 foreign commerce. 

24 ‘‘(3) DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMAL CRUSH VID25 EOS.—It shall be unlawful for any person to know26 ingly sell, market, advertise, exchange, or distribute 


snicholson on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
3 

HR 724 RFS

1 an animal crush video in, or using a means or facil2 ity of, interstate or foreign commerce. 

3 ‘‘(b) EXTRATERRITORIAL APPLICATION.—This sec4 tion applies to the knowing sale, marketing, advertising, 

5 exchange, distribution, or creation of an animal crush 

6 video outside of the United States, if— 

7 ‘‘(1) the person engaging in such conduct in8 tends or has reason to know that the animal crush 

9 video will be transported into the United States or 

10 its territories or possessions; or 

11 ‘‘(2) the animal crush video is transported into 

12 the United States or its territories or possessions. 

13 ‘‘(c) PENALTIES.—Whoever violates this section shall 

14 be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 

15 7 years, or both. 

16 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—This section does not apply 

18 with regard to any conduct, or a visual depiction of 

19 that conduct, that is— 

20 ‘‘(A) a customary and normal veterinary, 

21 agricultural husbandry, or other animal man22 agement practice; 

23 ‘‘(B) the slaughter of animals for food; 


snicholson on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
4 

HR 724 RFS

1 ‘‘(C) hunting, trapping, fishing, a sporting 

2 activity not otherwise prohibited by Federal 

3 law, predator control, or pest control; 

4 ‘‘(D) medical or scientific research; 

5 ‘‘(E) necessary to protect the life or prop6 erty of a person; or 

7 ‘‘(F) performed as part of euthanizing an 

8 animal. 

9 ‘‘(2) GOOD-FAITH DISTRIBUTION.—This section 

10 does not apply to the good-faith distribution of an 

11 animal crush video to— 

12 ‘‘(A) a law enforcement agency; or 

13 ‘‘(B) a third party for the sole purpose of 

14 analysis to determine if referral to a law en15 forcement agency is appropriate. 

16 ‘‘(3) UNINTENTIONAL CONDUCT.—This section 

17 does not apply to unintentional conduct that injures 

18 or kills an animal. 

19 ‘‘(4) CONSISTENCY WITH RFRA.—This section 

20 shall be enforced in a manner that is consistent with 

21 section 3 of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act 

22 of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb–1). 

23 ‘‘(e) NO PREEMPTION.—Nothing in this section shall 

24 be construed to preempt the law of any State or local sub25 division thereof to protect animals. 


snicholson on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
5 

HR 724 RFS

1 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

2 ‘‘(1) the term ‘animal crushing’ means actual 

3 conduct in which one or more living non-human 

4 mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is purposely 

5 crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or 

6 otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury (as de7 fined in section 1365 and including conduct that, if 

8 committed against a person and in the special mari9 time and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, 

10 would violate section 2241 or 2242); 

11 ‘‘(2) the term ‘animal crush video’ means any 

12 photograph, motion-picture film, video or digital re13 cording, or electronic image that— 

14 ‘‘(A) depicts animal crushing; and 

15 ‘‘(B) is obscene; and 

16 ‘‘(3) the term ‘euthanizing an animal’ means 

17 the humane destruction of an animal accomplished 

18 by a method that— 

19 ‘‘(A) produces rapid unconsciousness and 

20 subsequent death without evidence of pain or 

21 distress; or 

22 ‘‘(B) uses anesthesia produced by an agent 

23 that causes painless loss of consciousness and 

24 subsequent death.’’. 


snicholson on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
6 

HR 724 RFS

1 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

2 The table of sections for chapter 3 of title 18, United 

3 States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to 

4 section 48 and inserting the following: 

‘‘48. Animal crushing.’’. 

5 SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

6 The budgetary effects of this Act, and the amend7 ments made by this Act, for the purpose of complying with 

8 the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be deter9 mined by reference to the latest statement titled ‘‘Budg10 etary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this Act, sub11 mitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the 

12 Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that 

13 such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on 

14 passage. 

Passed the House of Representatives October 22, 

2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


snicholson on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS