June 3, 2025
Mr. Gottheimer (for himself and Ms. Malliotakis) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
To establish an Animal Cruelty Crimes Taskforce within the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the FBI Animal Cruelty Taskforce Act of 2025
.
Sec. 2. Animal Cruelty Crimes Taskforce of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(a) Establishment
There is established an Animal Cruelty Crimes Taskforce (hereinafter referred to as the Taskforce
) within the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate and enforce Federal laws prohibiting animal cruelty under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice, including cases relating to dogfighting, cockfighting, crush videos, and similar conduct.
(b) Training materials
The Taskforce shall produce training materials for local law enforcement on the investigation and detection of criminal offenses described in subsection (a).
(c) Coordination
The Taskforce shall coordinate with the Department of Agriculture, the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Agriculture, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshals Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other agencies, as appropriate.
(d) Report
On the date that is one year after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Taskforce shall submit to Congress a report on, for the previous year—
(1)
the number of charges that were filed for violations of laws described in subsection (a), disaggregated by the law alleged to have been violated, the State in which the violation was alleged to have occurred, and the number of convictions; and
(2)
the number of investigations of violations of laws described in subsection (a) for which charges were not filed.