PACT Act
Latest action · Feb 13, 2019 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedFeb 13, 2019
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act or the PACT Act
This bill revises and expands criminal provisions with respect to animal crushing.
It retains existing criminal offenses that prohibit knowingly creating or distributing an animal crush video using interstate commerce. The bill also adds a new provision to criminalize an intentional act of animal crushing. A violator is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term of up to seven years, or both.
It provides additional exceptions for conduct, or a video of conduct, including conduct that is (1) medical or scientific research, (2) necessary to protect the life or property of a person, (3) performed as part of euthanizing an animal, or (4) unintentional.
Cosponsors 48
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Feb 13, 2019 to Dec 17, 2019, with 3 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-CA | Dianne Feinstein | Original | Feb 13, 2019 |
| D-CT | Richard Blumenthal | Original | Feb 13, 2019 |
| D-IL | Richard J. Durbin | Original | Feb 13, 2019 |
| D-NY | Charles E. Schumer | Feb 14, 2019 | |
| I-VT | Bernard Sanders | Feb 25, 2019 | |
| D-NV | Catherine Cortez Masto | Feb 25, 2019 | |
| D-DE | Christopher A. Coons | Feb 25, 2019 | |
| D-CT | Christopher Murphy | Feb 25, 2019 | |
| D-NJ | Cory A. Booker | Feb 25, 2019 | |
| D-MI | Debbie Stabenow | Feb 25, 2019 | |
| D-OR | Jeff Merkley | Feb 25, 2019 | |
| D-CA | Kamala D. Harris | Feb 25, 2019 | |
| D-NH | Margaret Wood Hassan | Feb 25, 2019 | |
| R-AZ | Martha McSally | Feb 25, 2019 | |
| R-OH | Rob Portman | Feb 25, 2019 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Feb 13, 2019Introduced in Senate
- Feb 13, 2019Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 724 | PACT Act | Identical bill | Nov 25, 2019 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Feb 13, 2019Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.