I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 724 

To revise section 48 of title 18, United States Code, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 23, 2019 

Mr. DEUTCH (for himself, Mr. BUCHANAN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. AGUILAR, Ms. 

BARRAGA ́N, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Ms. BROWNLEY

of California, Mr. BEYER, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. CLAY, 

Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. CRIST, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. BUDD, Ms. DELAURO, 

Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. 

CICILLINE, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. JONES, Mr. 

GONZALEZ of Texas, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. LIPINSKI, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mrs. 

MURPHY, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Mr. MAST, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. 

O’HALLERAN, Mr. MEADOWS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. MOULTON, 

Ms. MENG, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. 

KEATING, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. 

CURTIS, Mr. POCAN, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. 

TIPTON, Mr. TONKO, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. RYAN, Ms. 

FRANKEL, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Ms. BASS, Mr. SUOZZI, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. MEEKS, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. 

KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mr. JOHN W. ROSE of Tennessee, Ms. 

SHALALA, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. KILMER, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. CORREA, Ms. 

GABBARD, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. 

BUCK, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. ZELDIN, 

Mr. TURNER, Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER, Mr. COLLINS of New York, Mr. 

YOHO, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. 

DESAULNIER, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. LANGEVIN, Ms. WASSERMAN

SCHULTZ, Mr. POSEY, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. 

VARGAS, Mr. UPTON, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. KATKO, Mr. COLE, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. PETERS, 

Ms. TITUS, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mrs. AXNE, Mr. BERA, Ms. 

LEE of California, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. TED

LIEU of California, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. PERRY, Mr. 

RASKIN, Mr. GOMEZ, Ms. HILL of California, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. JOYCE

of Ohio, Mr. NEAL, Ms. SPEIER, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. WITTMAN, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. WILLIAMS, Mr. 

COHEN, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. HECK, Mr. LOUDERMILK, 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
2 

•HR 724 IH

Mr. VELA, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. SLOTKIN, Ms. JUDY CHU of 

California, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. SIRES, Mr. SEAN PATRICK

MALONEY of New York, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. DEFAZIO, and Ms. 

PLASKETT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

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

6 SEC. 2. REVISION OF SECTION 48. 

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

8 States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘§ 48. Animal crushing 

10 ‘‘(a) OFFENSES.— 

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

12 person to purposely engage in animal crushing in or 

13 affecting interstate or foreign commerce or within 

14 the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of 

15 the United States. 

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

17 shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly create 

18 an animal crush video, if— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
3 

•HR 724 IH

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

2 know that the animal crush video will be dis3 tributed in, or using a means or facility of, 

4 interstate or foreign commerce; or 

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

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

7 foreign commerce. 

8 ‘‘(3) DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMAL CRUSH VID9 EOS.—It shall be unlawful for any person to know10 ingly sell, market, advertise, exchange, or distribute 

11 an animal crush video in, or using a means or facil12 ity of, interstate or foreign commerce. 

13 ‘‘(b) EXTRATERRITORIAL APPLICATION.—This sec14 tion applies to the knowing sale, marketing, advertising, 

15 exchange, distribution, or creation of an animal crush 

16 video outside of the United States, if— 

17 ‘‘(1) the person engaging in such conduct in18 tends or has reason to know that the animal crush 

19 video will be transported into the United States or 

20 its territories or possessions; or 

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

22 the United States or its territories or possessions. 

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

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

25 7 years, or both. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
4 

•HR 724 IH

1 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS.— 

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

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

4 that conduct, that is— 

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

6 agricultural husbandry, or other animal man7 agement practice; 

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

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

10 activity not otherwise prohibited by Federal 

11 law, predator control, or pest control; 

12 ‘‘(D) medical or scientific research; 

13 ‘‘(E) necessary to protect the life or prop14 erty of a person; or 

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

16 animal. 

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

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

19 animal crush video to— 

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

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

22 analysis to determine if referral to a law en23 forcement agency is appropriate. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
5 

•HR 724 IH

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

2 does not apply to unintentional conduct that injures 

3 or kills an animal. 

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

5 shall be enforced in a manner that is consistent with 

6 section 3 of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act 

7 of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb–1). 

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

9 be construed to preempt the law of any State or local sub10 division thereof to protect animals. 

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

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

13 conduct in which one or more living non-human 

14 mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is purposely 

15 crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or 

16 otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury (as de17 fined in section 1365 and including conduct that, if 

18 committed against a person and in the special mari19 time and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, 

20 would violate section 2241 or 2242); 

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

22 photograph, motion-picture film, video or digital re23 cording, or electronic image that— 

24 ‘‘(A) depicts animal crushing; and 

25 ‘‘(B) is obscene; and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
6 

•HR 724 IH

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

2 the humane destruction of an animal accomplished 

3 by a method that— 

4 ‘‘(A) produces rapid unconsciousness and 

5 subsequent death without evidence of pain or 

6 distress; or 

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

8 that causes painless loss of consciousness and 

9 subsequent death.’’. 

10 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

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

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

13 section 48 and inserting the following: 

‘‘48. Animal crushing.’’. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS