HEART Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 513 To amend title 18, United States Code, with respect to civil forfeitures relating to certain seized animals, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Ms. HARRIS (for herself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, with respect to civil forfeitures relating to certain seized animals, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Help Extract Animals 4 from Red Tape Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘HEART Act of 5 2019’’. 6 SEC. 2. REDUCED NOTICE PERIOD. 7 (a) NOTICE TIMING FOR CASES OF ANIMAL SEI- 8 ZURE.—Section 983(a)(1)(A) of title 18, United States 9 Code, is amended— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S513.IS S513 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 513 IS (1) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘and subject to 1 clause (vi),’’ after ‘‘Except as provided in clauses (ii) 2 through (v),’’; and 3 (2) by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(vi) In the case of a civil forfeiture proceeding 5 relating to an animal seized under section 26 of the 6 Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2156) or section 1955 7 of this title, clauses (i), (ii), (iii), and (v) of this sub- 8 paragraph shall be applied by substituting— 9 ‘‘(I) ‘30 days’ for ‘60 days’ each place that 10 term appears; and 11 ‘‘(II) ‘30-day’ for ‘60-day’ each place that 12 term appears.’’. 13 (b) NOTICE PROCEDURES FOR CASES OF ANIMAL 14 SEIZURE.—Section 983(a)(1) of title 18, United States 15 Code is amended— 16 (1) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, and, in 17 the case of a civil forfeiture proceeding relating to 18 an animal seized under section 26 of the Animal 19 Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2156) or section 1955 of this 20 title, that, after considering the factors under sub- 21 paragraph (G), the delay is warranted’’ after ‘‘if the 22 official determines that the conditions in subpara- 23 graph (D) are present’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S513.IS S513 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 513 IS (2) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘, and, in 1 the case of a civil forfeiture proceeding relating to 2 an animal seized under section 26 of the Animal 3 Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2156) or section 1955 of this 4 title, that, after considering the factors under sub- 5 paragraph (G), the delay is warranted’’ after ‘‘that 6 the conditions in subparagraph (D) are present’’; 7 and 8 (3) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(G) In the case of a civil forfeiture proceeding 10 relating to an animal seized under section 26 of the 11 Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2156) or section 1955 12 of this title, the period for sending notice under this 13 paragraph may be extended only after consideration 14 of— 15 ‘‘(i) the cost to the Government of caring 16 and providing shelter for the animal; 17 ‘‘(ii) the psychological and physical health 18 of the animal and the effect the delay will have 19 on the rehabilitation of the animal; and 20 ‘‘(iii) any increased risk that the delay 21 could necessitate euthanizing the animal.’’. 22 SEC. 3. SEIZURES OF ANIMALS. 23 (a) PAYMENT FOR CERTAIN COSTS.—Section 24 524(c)(1) of title 28, United States Code, is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S513.IS S513 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 513 IS (1) in subparagraph (H), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 1 the end; 2 (2) in subparagraph (I), by striking the period 3 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (I) the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘(J) payment for the transportation of, shelter 7 of, care for, veterinary services provided to, and, 8 when appropriate, humane euthanasia of an animal 9 seized under section 26 of the Animal Welfare Act 10 (7 U.S.C. 2156) or section 1955 of title 18.’’. 11 (b) REIMBURSEMENT AND PROPORTIONALITY.—Sec- 12 tion 983(h) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 13 by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(4) CIVIL FORFEITURE PROCEEDINGS INVOLV- 15 ING ANIMALS.— 16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 17 graph (B), in any covered proceeding in which 18 the Government prevails, the court shall require 19 the claimant to reimburse the United States for 20 any actual and reasonable costs incurred by the 21 Government for transportation of, shelter of, 22 care for, veterinary services provided to, and, 23 when appropriate, humane euthanasia of an 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S513.IS S513 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 513 IS animal that was the subject of the covered pro- 1 ceeding. 2 ‘‘(B) REDUCTION.—The court may reduce 3 the amount of a reimbursement described in 4 subparagraph (A) on the basis of— 5 ‘‘(i) the seriousness of the offense; 6 ‘‘(ii) the culpability of the claimant; 7 ‘‘(iii) the prior record of the claimant; 8 ‘‘(iv) the financial condition of the 9 claimant and any need of the claimant to 10 support a family; and 11 ‘‘(v) the purpose of the civil forfeiture 12 statute in question. 13 ‘‘(C) APPLICATION.—A reimbursement de- 14 scribed in subparagraph (A) shall be credited 15 to— 16 ‘‘(i) the agency that paid the costs 17 being reimbursed; or 18 ‘‘(ii) the fund that was used to pay 19 the costs being reimbursed. 20 ‘‘(D) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 21 term ‘covered proceeding’ means a civil for- 22 feiture proceeding under section 26 of the Ani- 23 mal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2156) or section 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S513.IS S513 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 513 IS 1955 of this title, the subject of which is an 1 animal.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S513.IS S513 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS