[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1947 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1947

  To prohibit attendance of an animal fighting venture, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 6, 2011

 Mr. Blumenthal (for himself, Mr. Kirk, Ms. Cantwell, and Mr. Brown of 
Massachusetts) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit attendance of an animal fighting venture, 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 Fighting Spectator 
Prohibition Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON ATTENDING AN ANIMAL FIGHT OR CAUSING A MINOR TO 
              ATTEND AN ANIMAL FIGHT.

    Section 26 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2156) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in the heading, by striking ``Sponsoring or 
                Exhibiting an Animal in'' and inserting ``Sponsoring or 
                Exhibiting an Animal in, Attending, or Causing a Minor 
                To Attend'';
                    (B) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) in the heading, by striking ``In 
                        General'' and inserting ``Sponsoring or 
                        Exhibiting''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``paragraph (2)'' and 
                        inserting ``paragraph (3)'';
                    (C) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph 
                (3); and
                    (D) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following 
                new paragraph:
            ``(2) Attending or causing a minor to attend.--It shall be 
        unlawful for any person to--
                    ``(A) knowingly attend an animal fighting venture; 
                or
                    ``(B) cause a minor to attend an animal fighting 
                venture.''; and
            (2) in subsection (g), by adding at the end the following 
        new paragraph:
            ``(5) the term `minor' means a person under the age of 18 
        years old.''.

SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT OF ANIMAL FIGHTING PROHIBITIONS.

    Section 49 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Whoever'' and inserting ``(a) In 
        General.--Whoever'';
            (2) in subsection (a), as designated by paragraph (1) of 
        this section, by striking ``subsection (a),'' and inserting 
        ``subsection (a)(1),''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subsections:
    ``(b) Attending an Animal Fighting Venture.--Whoever violates 
subsection (a)(2)(A) of section 26 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 
2156) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 1 
year, or both, for each violation.
    ``(c) Causing a Minor To Attend an Animal Fighting Venture.--
Whoever violates subsection (a)(2)(B) of section 26 (7 U.S.C. 2156) of 
the Animal Welfare Act shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for 
not more than 3 years, or both, for each violation.''.
                                 <all>