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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5566 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.5566

                      One Hundred Eleventh Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America

                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
             the fifth day of January, two thousand and ten

                                 An Act

 
 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit interstate commerce 
             in animal crush videos, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act 
of 2010''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
    The Congress finds the following:
        (1) The United States has a long history of prohibiting the 
    interstate sale, marketing, advertising, exchange, and distribution 
    of obscene material and speech that is integral to criminal 
    conduct.
        (2) The Federal Government and the States have a compelling 
    interest in preventing intentional acts of extreme animal cruelty.
        (3) Each of the several States and the District of Columbia 
    criminalize intentional acts of extreme animal cruelty, such as the 
    intentional crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, or impaling 
    of animals for no socially redeeming purpose.
        (4) There are certain extreme acts of animal cruelty that 
    appeal to a specific sexual fetish. These acts of extreme animal 
    cruelty are videotaped, and the resulting video tapes are commonly 
    referred to as ``animal crush videos''.
        (5) The Supreme Court of the United States has long held that 
    obscenity is an exception to speech protected under the First 
    Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
        (6) In the judgment of Congress, many animal crush videos are 
    obscene in the sense that the depictions, taken as a whole--
            (A) appeal to the prurient interest in sex;
            (B) are patently offensive; and
            (C) lack serious literary, artistic, political, or 
        scientific value.
        (7) Serious criminal acts of extreme animal cruelty are 
    integral to the creation, sale, distribution, advertising, 
    marketing, and exchange of animal crush videos.
        (8) The creation, sale, distribution, advertising, marketing, 
    and exchange of animal crush videos is intrinsically related and 
    integral to creating an incentive for, directly causing, and 
    perpetuating demand for the serious acts of extreme animal cruelty 
    the videos depict. The primary reason for those criminal acts is 
    the creation, sale, distribution, advertising, marketing, and 
    exchange of the animal crush video image.
        (9) The serious acts of extreme animal cruelty necessary to 
    make animal crush videos are committed in a clandestine manner 
    that--
            (A) allows the perpetrators of such crimes to remain 
        anonymous;
            (B) makes it extraordinarily difficult to establish the 
        jurisdiction within which the underlying criminal acts of 
        extreme animal cruelty occurred; and
            (C) often precludes proof that the criminal acts occurred 
        within the statute of limitations.
        (10) Each of the difficulties described in paragraph (9) 
    seriously frustrates and impedes the ability of State authorities 
    to enforce the criminal statutes prohibiting such behavior.
SEC. 3. ANIMAL CRUSH VIDEOS.
    (a) In General.--Section 48 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 48. Animal crush videos
    ``(a) Definition.--In this section the term `animal crush video' 
means any photograph, motion-picture film, video or digital recording, 
or electronic image that--
        ``(1) depicts actual conduct in which 1 or more living non-
    human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is intentionally 
    crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise 
    subjected to serious bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 and 
    including conduct that, if committed against a person and in the 
    special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, 
    would violate section 2241 or 2242); and
        ``(2) is obscene.
    ``(b) Prohibitions.--
        ``(1) Creation of animal crush videos.--It shall be unlawful 
    for any person to knowingly create an animal crush video, if--
            ``(A) the person intends or has reason to know that the 
        animal crush video will be distributed in, or using a means or 
        facility of, interstate or foreign commerce; or
            ``(B) the animal crush video is distributed in, or using a 
        means or facility of, interstate or foreign commerce.
        ``(2) Distribution of animal crush videos.--It shall be 
    unlawful for any person to knowingly sell, market, advertise, 
    exchange, or distribute an animal crush video in, or using a means 
    or facility of, interstate or foreign commerce.
    ``(c) Extraterritorial Application.--Subsection (b) shall apply to 
the knowing sale, marketing, advertising, exchange, distribution, or 
creation of an animal crush video outside of the United States, if--
        ``(1) the person engaging in such conduct intends or has reason 
    to know that the animal crush video will be transported into the 
    United States or its territories or possessions; or
        ``(2) the animal crush video is transported into the United 
    States or its territories or possessions.
    ``(d) Penalty.--Any person who violates subsection (b) shall be 
fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 7 years, or both.
    ``(e) Exceptions.--
        ``(1) In general.--This section shall not apply with regard to 
    any visual depiction of--
            ``(A) customary and normal veterinary or agricultural 
        husbandry practices;
            ``(B) the slaughter of animals for food; or
            ``(C) hunting, trapping, or fishing.
        ``(2) Good-faith distribution.--This section shall not apply to 
    the good-faith distribution of an animal crush video to--
            ``(A) a law enforcement agency; or
            ``(B) a third party for the sole purpose of analysis to 
        determine if referral to a law enforcement agency is 
        appropriate.
    ``(f) No Preemption.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to 
preempt the law of any State or local subdivision thereof to protect 
animals.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The item relating to section 48 in the 
table of sections for chapter 3 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows:

``48. Animal crush videos.''.

    (c) Severability.--If any provision of section 48 of title 18, 
United States Code (as amended by this section), or the application of 
the provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be 
unconstitutional, the provision and the application of the provision to 
other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
SEC. 4. PAYGO COMPLIANCE.
    The budgetary effects of this Act, for purposes of complying with 
the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by 
reference to the latest statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO 
Legislation'' for this Act, jointly submitted for printing in the 
Congressional Record by the Chairmen of the House and Senate Budget 
Committees, provided that such statement has been submitted prior to 
the vote on passage in the House acting first on this conference report 
or amendments between the Houses.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.
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