[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 204 (Thursday, December 14, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S8049]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               PREVENTING ANIMAL CRUELTY AND TORTURE ACT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of 
S. 654 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 654) to revise section 48 of title 18, United 
     States Code, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill 
be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider 
be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 654) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                 S. 654

       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 ``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:

     ``Sec. 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 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.
       ``(3) 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.
       ``(b) Extraterritorial Application.--This section 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 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.
       ``(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 management 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 property 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 enforcement 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 
     subdivision 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 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);
       ``(2) the term `animal crush video' means any photograph, 
     motion-picture film, video or digital recording, 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.''.

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