SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Animal 
Cruelty and Torture Act’’ or the ‘‘PACT Act’’. 
SEC. 2. REVISION OF SECTION 48. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 48 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘§ 48. Animal crushing 
‘‘(a) OFFENSES.— 
‘‘(1) CRUSHING.—It shall be unlawful for any 
person to purposely engage in animal crushing in or 
affecting interstate or foreign commerce or within 
the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of 
the United States. 
‘‘(2) 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 dis-
tributed 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. 
‘‘(3) DISTRIBUTION
OF
ANIMAL
CRUSH
VID-
EOS.—It shall be unlawful for any person to know-
ingly sell, market, advertise, exchange, or distribute
an animal crush video in, or using a means or facil-
ity of, interstate or foreign commerce. 
‘‘(b) EXTRATERRITORIAL APPLICATION.—This sec-
tion applies 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 in-
tends 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. 
‘‘(c) PENALTIES.—Whoever violates this section shall 
be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 
7 years, or both. 
‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—This section does not apply 
with regard to any conduct, or a visual depiction of 
that conduct, that is— 
‘‘(A) a customary and normal veterinary, 
agricultural husbandry, or other animal man-
agement practice; 
‘‘(B) the slaughter of animals for food;
‘‘(C) hunting, trapping, fishing, a sporting 
activity not otherwise prohibited by Federal 
law, predator control, or pest control; 
‘‘(D) medical or scientific research; 
‘‘(E) necessary to protect the life or prop-
erty of a person; or 
‘‘(F) performed as part of euthanizing an 
animal. 
‘‘(2) GOOD-FAITH DISTRIBUTION.—This section 
does 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 en-
forcement agency is appropriate. 
‘‘(3) UNINTENTIONAL CONDUCT.—This section 
does not apply to unintentional conduct that injures 
or kills an animal. 
‘‘(4) CONSISTENCY WITH RFRA.—This section 
shall be enforced in a manner that is consistent with 
section 3 of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act 
of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb–1). 
‘‘(e) NO PREEMPTION.—Nothing in this section shall 
be construed to preempt the law of any State or local sub-
division thereof to protect animals.
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘animal crushing’ means actual 
conduct in which one or more living non-human 
mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is purposely 
crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or 
otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury (as de-
fined in section 1365 and including conduct that, if 
committed against a person and in the special mari-
time and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, 
would violate section 2241 or 2242); 
‘‘(2) the term ‘animal crush video’ means any 
photograph, motion-picture film, video or digital re-
cording, or electronic image that— 
‘‘(A) depicts animal crushing; and 
‘‘(B) is obscene; and 
‘‘(3) the term ‘euthanizing an animal’ means 
the humane destruction of an animal accomplished 
by a method that— 
‘‘(A) produces rapid unconsciousness and 
subsequent death without evidence of pain or 
distress; or 
‘‘(B) uses anesthesia produced by an agent 
that causes painless loss of consciousness and 
subsequent death.’’.
(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 
The table of sections for chapter 3 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to 
section 48 and inserting the following: 
‘‘48. Animal crushing.’’. 
SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 
The budgetary effects of this Act, and the amend-
ments made by this Act, for the purpose of complying with 
the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be deter-
mined by reference to the latest statement titled ‘‘Budg-
etary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this Act, sub-
mitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the 
Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that 
such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on 
passage. 
Passed the House of Representatives October 22, 
2019. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 724 
AN ACT 
To revise section 48 of title 18, United States 
Code, and for other purposes.