Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2626 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2626
5	5	To amend the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the confinement of pregnant
6	6	pigs, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	APRIL3, 2025
9	9	Ms. E
10	10	SCOBAR(for herself and Ms. NORTON) introduced the following bill;
11	11	which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To amend the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the
14	14	confinement of pregnant pigs, and for other purposes.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pigs In Gestation 4
19	19	Stalls Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘PIGS Act of 2025’’. 5
20	20	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
21	21	Congress makes the following findings: 7
22	22	(1) Intensive confinement of pigs is a signifi-8
23	23	cant animal welfare issue, causing physical problems 9
24	24	and psychological anguish for the animals. 10
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28	28	(2) Dozens of major food retailers and more 1
29	29	than 10 States have taken action to phase out the 2
30	30	use of intensive confinement for pigs, reflecting the 3
31	31	will and concerns of the public. 4
32	32	(3) At least two States have adopted policies to 5
33	33	forbid the sale of pork from factory farms that use 6
34	34	gestation crates, with that policy predicated on 7
35	35	human health and animal welfare concerns. 8
36	36	(4) As more consumers turn away from pur-9
37	37	chasing pork products derived from intensive con-10
38	38	finement practices, the pork industry will be better 11
39	39	aligned with its customers by ending these unpopu-12
40	40	lar and inhumane housing methods. 13
41	41	SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON CONFINING BREEDING PIGS. 14
42	42	(a) I
43	43	NGENERAL.—The Animal Welfare Act (7 15
44	44	U.S.C. 2131 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 16
45	45	the following: 17
46	46	‘‘SEC. 30. PROHIBITION ON CONFINING BREEDING PIGS. 18
47	47	‘‘(a) P
48	48	ROHIBITION.— 19
49	49	‘‘(1) I
50	50	N GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for a 20
51	51	person to cause any breeding pig to be confined in— 21
52	52	‘‘(A) such a manner that prevents the pig 22
53	53	from lying down, standing up, or turning 23
54	54	around— 24
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58	58	‘‘(i) in a complete circle without any 1
59	59	impediment, including a tether; and 2
60	60	‘‘(ii) without touching the side of an 3
61	61	enclosure or another animal; and 4
62	62	‘‘(B) beginning on December 31, 2025, a 5
63	63	space with less than 24 square feet of usable 6
64	64	floorspace per pig, as calculated under para-7
65	65	graph (3). 8
66	66	‘‘(2) E
67	67	XCEPTIONS.—The Secretary shall not, in 9
68	68	applying paragraph (1), consider a breeding pig to 10
69	69	be confined in a cruel manner if such confinement 11
70	70	occurs during— 12
71	71	‘‘(A) transportation; 13
72	72	‘‘(B) examination, testing, treatment, or 14
73	73	an operation conducted for veterinary purposes, 15
74	74	but only if performed by or under the direct su-16
75	75	pervision of a licensed veterinarian; 17
76	76	‘‘(C) the five-day period before the pig’s 18
77	77	expected date of farrowing; and 19
78	78	‘‘(D) slaughter conducted in accordance 20
79	79	with the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (7 21
80	80	U.S.C. 1901 et seq.). 22
81	81	‘‘(3) C
82	82	ALCULATION OF USABLE FLOORSPACE .— 23
83	83	For purposes of paragraph (1)(B), the total square 24
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87	87	footage of floorspace provided to each breeding pig 1
88	88	in an enclosure shall be determined by dividing— 2
89	89	‘‘(A) the total square footage of floorspace 3
90	90	provided to all the animals in such enclosure; by 4
91	91	‘‘(B) the number of animals in that enclo-5
92	92	sure. 6
93	93	‘‘(b) P
94	94	ENALTIES.—For the purpose of administering 7
95	95	and enforcing this section, the authorities provided under 8
96	96	sections 10414 and 10415 of the Animal Health Protec-9
97	97	tion Act (7 U.S.C. 8313 and 8314) shall apply to this sec-10
98	98	tion in a similar manner as those sections apply to the 11
99	99	Animal Health Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 8301 et seq.). 12
100	100	Any person that violates the prohibition under subsection 13
101	101	(a) shall be subject to penalties provided in such section 14
102	102	10414. 15
103	103	‘‘(c) N
104	104	OPREEMPTION.—Nothing in this section pre-16
105	105	empts any State or local laws, regulations, orders, or other 17
106	106	requirements with respect to animal welfare that are iden-18
107	107	tical to, or are in addition to, the requirements of this 19
108	108	section. 20
109	109	‘‘(d) R
110	110	ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-21
111	111	tion shall be construed as limiting the authority of the Sec-22
112	112	retary under this Act or another Federal law to protect 23
113	113	animal welfare. 24
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117	117	‘‘(e) SEVERABILITY.—If this section is held unconsti-1
118	118	tutional as to some provisions or circumstances, it shall 2
119	119	remain in force as to the remaining provisions and other 3
120	120	circumstances. 4
121	121	‘‘(f) F
122	122	INANCIALASSISTANCE.— 5
123	123	‘‘(1) I
124	124	N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab-6
125	125	lish a program under which the Secretary will pro-7
126	126	vide financial assistance to pig producers to assist 8
127	127	such producers in complying with the requirements 9
128	128	of this section. 10
129	129	‘‘(2) P
130	130	RIORITY.—The Secretary shall allocate 11
131	131	funds made available under paragraph (3) among 12
132	132	pig producers in a manner that prioritizes inde-13
133	133	pendent pig producers. 14
134	134	‘‘(3) F
135	135	UNDING.—The Secretary shall amend the 15
136	136	order in effect as of the date of the enactment of 16
137	137	this section under section 1616(c) of the Pork Pro-17
138	138	motion, Research, and Consumer Information Act of 18
139	139	1985 (7 U.S.C. 4805(c)), to direct the National 19
140	140	Pork Board, notwithstanding section 1620(c) of 20
141	141	such Act (7 U.S.C. 4809(c)), to set aside not less 21
142	142	than $10,000,000 of the funds collected from assess-22
143	143	ments made under such Act for the first fiscal year 23
144	144	that begins after the date of the enactment of this 24
145	145	section and the following fiscal year to provide as-25
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149	149	sistance to pig producers, as described in paragraph 1
150	150	(1). 2
151	151	‘‘(g) D
152	152	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
153	153	‘‘(1) The term ‘breeding pig’ means any female 4
154	154	pig that is— 5
155	155	‘‘(A) kept for the purpose of commercial 6
156	156	breeding who is six months of age or older; or 7
157	157	‘‘(B) pregnant. 8
158	158	‘‘(2) The term ‘enclosure’ means any cage, 9
159	159	crate or other enclosure in which a pig is kept, in-10
160	160	cluding, a gestation crate. 11
161	161	‘‘(3) The term ‘pig’ means any animal of the 12
162	162	porcine species. 13
163	163	‘‘(4) The term ‘independent pig producer’ 14
164	164	means a pig producer who owns their own pigs and 15
165	165	is not contracted to raise pigs that belong to another 16
166	166	entity.’’. 17
167	167	(b) A
168	168	PPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by this 18
169	169	section shall apply beginning on the date that is one year 19
170	170	after the date of the enactment of this Act. 20
171	171	Æ
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