II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1831 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 22, 2015 

Mr. TOOMEY (for himself and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and 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.— 


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

2 person to intentionally engage in animal crushing in 

3 or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or within 

4 the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of 

5 the United States. 

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

7 shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly create 

8 an animal crush video, if— 

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

10 know that the animal crush video will be dis11 tributed in, or using a means or facility of, 

12 interstate or foreign commerce; or 

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

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

15 foreign commerce. 

16 ‘‘(3) DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMAL CRUSH VID17 EOS.—It shall be unlawful for any person to know18 ingly sell, market, advertise, exchange, or distribute 

19 an animal crush video in, or using a means or facil20 ity of, interstate or foreign commerce. 

21 ‘‘(b) EXTRATERRITORIAL APPLICATION.—This sec22 tion applies to the knowing sale, marketing, advertising, 

23 exchange, distribution, or creation of an animal crush 

24 video outside of the United States, if— 


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1 ‘‘(1) the person engaging in such conduct in2 tends or has reason to know that the animal crush 

3 video will be transported into the United States or 

4 its territories or possessions; or 

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

6 the United States or its territories or possessions. 

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

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

9 7 years, or both. 

10 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS.— 

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

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

13 that conduct, that is— 

14 ‘‘(A) a customary and normal veterinary or 

15 agricultural husbandry practice; 

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

17 ‘‘(C) hunting, trapping, fishing, predator 

18 control, or pest control; 

19 ‘‘(D) medical or scientific research; or 

20 ‘‘(E) necessary to protect the life or prop21 erty of a person from a serious threat caused 

22 by an animal. 

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

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

25 animal crush video to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) a law enforcement agency; or 

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

3 analysis to determine if referral to a law en4 forcement agency is appropriate. 

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

6 be construed to preempt the law of any State or local sub7 division thereof to protect animals. 

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

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

10 conduct in which one or more living non-human 

11 mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is inten12 tionally crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, im13 paled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury 

14 (as defined in section 1365 and including conduct 

15 that, if committed against a person and in the spe16 cial maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the 

17 United States, would violate section 2241 or 2242); 

18 and 

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

20 photograph, motion-picture film, video or digital re21 cording, or electronic image that— 

22 ‘‘(A) depicts animal crushing; and 

23 ‘‘(B) is obscene.’’. 

24 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

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


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

2 section 48 and inserting the following: 

‘‘48. Animal crushing.’’. 

Æ 


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