I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1864
To amend title 31, United States Code, to establish the Life Sciences
Research Security Board, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH5, 2025
Mr. G
RIFFITHintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend title 31, United States Code, to establish the
Life Sciences Research Security Board, 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 ‘‘Risky Research Review 4
Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH SECURITY BOARD. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subtitle V of title 31, United 2
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘CHAPTER 79—LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH 5
SECURITY BOARD 6
‘‘7901. Definitions.
‘‘7902. Establishment and membership.
‘‘7903. Board personnel.
‘‘7904. Board mission and functions.
‘‘7905. Agency procedures; referral to Board.
‘‘7906. Board review.
‘‘7907. GAO Audits.
‘‘7908. Funding.
‘‘§ 7901. Definitions 7
‘‘In this chapter: 8
‘‘(1) A
GENCY.—The term ‘agency’ has the 9
meaning given the term in section 552(f) of title 5. 10
‘‘(2) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -11
TEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional com-12
mittees’ means the Committee on Homeland Secu-13
rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 14
Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 15
of Representatives. 16
‘‘(3) B
OARD.—The term ‘Board’ means the 17
Life Sciences Research Security Board established 18
under section 7902(a). 19
‘‘(4) D
UAL USE RESEARCH OF CONCERN .—The 20
term ‘dual use research of concern’— 21
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‘‘(A) means life sciences research that, 1
based on current understanding, can be reason-2
ably anticipated to provide knowledge, informa-3
tion, products, or technologies that could— 4
‘‘(i) be misapplied to do harm with no 5
modification or only a minor modification; 6
and 7
‘‘(ii) pose a significant threat with po-8
tential consequences to public health and 9
safety, agricultural crops and other plants, 10
animals, materiel, or national security; and 11
‘‘(B) includes— 12
‘‘(i) life sciences research that could— 13
‘‘(I) increase transmissibility of a 14
pathogen within or between host spe-15
cies; 16
‘‘(II) increase the virulence of a 17
pathogen or convey virulence to a non- 18
pathogen; 19
‘‘(III) increase the toxicity of a 20
known toxin or produce a novel toxin; 21
‘‘(IV) increase— 22
‘‘(aa) the stability of a 23
pathogen or toxin in the environ-24
ment; or 25
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‘‘(bb) the ability to dissemi-1
nate a pathogen or toxin; 2
‘‘(V) alter the host range or tro-3
pism of a pathogen or toxin; 4
‘‘(VI) decrease the ability for a 5
human or veterinary pathogen or 6
toxin to be detected using standard 7
diagnostic or analytical methods; 8
‘‘(VII) increase resistance of a 9
pathogen or toxin to clinical or veteri-10
nary prophylactic or therapeutic inter-11
ventions; 12
‘‘(VIII) alter a human or veteri-13
nary pathogen or toxin to disrupt the 14
effectiveness of pre-existing immunity, 15
via immunization or natural infection, 16
against the pathogen or toxin; 17
‘‘(IX) enhance the susceptibility 18
of a host population to a pathogen or 19
toxin; 20
‘‘(X) enhance transmissibility of 21
a pathogen in humans; 22
‘‘(XI) enhance the virulence of a 23
pathogen in humans; 24
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‘‘(XII) enhance the immune eva-1
sion of a pathogen in humans, such as 2
by modifying the pathogen to disrupt 3
the effectiveness of pre-existing immu-4
nity via immunization or natural in-5
fection; or 6
‘‘(XIII) generate, use, reconsti-7
tute, or transfer an eradicated or ex-8
tinct high-consequence pathogen; and 9
‘‘(ii) any other category of life 10
sciences research that the Board, by ma-11
jority vote of the members of the Board, 12
identifies and publishes in the Federal 13
Register. 14
‘‘(5) E
MPLOYEE.—The term ‘employee’ means 15
an individual described in section 2105(a) of title 5. 16
‘‘(6) F
EDERAL FUNDING .—The term ‘Federal 17
funding’ means amounts awarded by an agency pur-18
suant to an intramural or extramural grant, cooper-19
ative agreement, interagency agreement, contract, or 20
other instrument. 21
‘‘(7) G
AIN OF FUNCTION RESEARCH .—The 22
term ‘gain of function research’ means a research 23
experiment that may enhance the transmissibility or 24
virulence of a high-consequence pathogen. 25
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‘‘(8) HIGH-CONSEQUENCE PATHOGEN .—The 1
term ‘high-consequence pathogen’— 2
‘‘(A) means a wild-type or synthetic patho-3
gen that— 4
‘‘(i)(I) is likely capable of wide and 5
uncontrollable spread in human popu-6
lations; and 7
‘‘(II) would likely cause moderate to 8
severe disease or mortality in humans; or 9
‘‘(ii) is— 10
‘‘(I) subject to subparagraph (B), 11
influenza A virus; 12
‘‘(II) classified under subgenus 13
Sarbecovirus; 14
‘‘(III) classified under subgenus 15
Merbecovirus; 16
‘‘(IV) Variola orthopoxvirus; 17
‘‘(V) Mpox orthopoxvirus; 18
‘‘(VI) Nipah henipavirus; 19
‘‘(VII) Hendra henipavirus; 20
‘‘(VIII) Ebola orthoebolavirus; 21
‘‘(IX) Marburg marburgvirus; 22
‘‘(X) Lassa mammarenavirus; 23
‘‘(XI) Junin arenavirus; 24
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‘‘(XII) Crimean-Congo hemor-1
rhagic fever orthonairovirus; 2
‘‘(XIII) Hantaan 3
orthohantavirus; 4
‘‘(XIV) Sin Nombre 5
orthohantavirus; 6
‘‘(XV) Yersinia pestis; 7
‘‘(XVI) a select agent or toxin, 8
work with which poses a significant 9
risk of deliberate misuse; 10
‘‘(XVII) any other pathogen or 11
category of pathogen that a majority 12
of members of the Board— 13
‘‘(aa) identifies as a high- 14
consequence pathogen; and 15
‘‘(bb) publishes in the Fed-16
eral Register; or 17
‘‘(XVIII) any synthetic construct 18
of a pathogen or category of pathogen 19
described in this clause; and 20
‘‘(B) does not include a seasonal influenza 21
virus, unless a seasonal influenza virus has been 22
manipulated to include genetic sequences from 23
a pathogen described in subparagraph (A). 24
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‘‘(9) HIGH-RISK LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH .— 1
The term ‘high-risk life sciences research’ means life 2
sciences research that is— 3
‘‘(A) dual use research of concern involving 4
a high-consequence pathogen; or 5
‘‘(B) gain of function research. 6
‘‘(10) L
IFE SCIENCES RESEARCH .—The term 7
‘life sciences research’— 8
‘‘(A) means the study or use of a living or-9
ganism, a virus, or a product of a living orga-10
nism or virus; and 11
‘‘(B) includes each discipline, methodology, 12
and application of biology, including bio-13
technology, genomics, proteomics, 14
bioinformatics, and pharmaceutical and bio-15
medical research and techniques. 16
‘‘(11) S
ELECT AGENT OR TOXIN .—The term 17
‘select agent or toxin’ means a select agent or toxin 18
identified under— 19
‘‘(A) section 73.3(b) of title 42, Code of 20
Federal Regulations, as in effect on the date of 21
enactment of the Risky Research Review Act; 22
‘‘(B) section 331.3(b) of title 7, Code of 23
Federal Regulations, as in effect on the date of 24
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enactment of the Risky Research Review Act; 1
or 2
‘‘(C) section 121.3(b) of title 9, Code of 3
Federal Regulations, as in effect on the date of 4
enactment of the Risky Research Review Act. 5
‘‘§ 7902. Establishment and membership 6
‘‘(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established as an 7
independent agency within the Executive Branch a board 8
to be known as the ‘Life Sciences Research Security 9
Board’ to review proposed Federal funding for life sciences 10
research in accordance with section 7906. 11
‘‘(b) A
PPOINTMENT OFMEMBERS.— 12
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The President shall ap-13
point, without regard to political affiliation, 9 indi-14
viduals who are citizens of the United States to 15
serve as members of the Board for not more than 16
2 terms of 4 years each, including— 17
‘‘(A) the Executive Director appointed 18
under section 7903(a); 19
‘‘(B) 5 nongovernmental scientists in a life 20
sciences field; 21
‘‘(C) 2 nongovernmental national security 22
experts; and 23
‘‘(D) 1 nongovernmental biosafety expert. 24
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‘‘(2) PERIOD FOR NOMINATIONS .—The Presi-1
dent shall make appointments, other than the Exec-2
utive Director, to the Board not later than 30 days 3
after the date of enactment of this chapter. 4
‘‘(3) C
ONSIDERATIONS OF RECOMMENDA -5
TIONS.—The President shall make appointments to 6
the Board after considering individuals rec-7
ommended by the chair and ranking member of the 8
appropriate congressional committees. 9
‘‘(4) Q
UALIFICATIONS.—Individuals appointed 10
to the Board— 11
‘‘(A) shall— 12
‘‘(i) be impartial individuals; and 13
‘‘(ii) be distinguished individuals of 14
high national professional reputation in 15
their respective fields who are capable of 16
exercising the independent and objective 17
judgment necessary to conduct an impar-18
tial assessment of the potential risks and 19
benefits associated with Federal funding of 20
high-risk life sciences research to public 21
health and national security; and 22
‘‘(B) may not be an employee on the date 23
of the appointment or during the 3-year period 24
preceding the date of the appointment. 25
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‘‘(5) LIMITATIONS.—Not more than 4 concur-1
rent members of the Board may be an employee, a 2
subcontractor, a previous employee, or a previous 3
subcontractor of— 4
‘‘(A) the Department of Defense; 5
‘‘(B) the Department of Homeland Secu-6
rity; 7
‘‘(C) the National Institute of Allergy and 8
Infectious Diseases of the Department of 9
Health and Human Services; 10
‘‘(D) the Office of the Director of National 11
Intelligence; or 12
‘‘(E) the Department of Energy. 13
‘‘(6) C
ONSIDERATION BY THE SENATE .— 14
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Nominations for ap-15
pointment to the position of Executive Director 16
of the Board shall be referred to the Committee 17
on Homeland Security and Governmental Af-18
fairs of the Senate for consideration. 19
‘‘(B) R
ENOMINATION.—A member of the 20
Board who is recommended to serve a second 21
term shall be nominated for appointment to the 22
Board, and such nomination shall be referred 23
pursuant to subparagraph (A). 24
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‘‘(7) VACANCY.—Not later than 30 days after 1
the date on which a vacancy on the Board occurs, 2
the vacancy shall be filled in the same manner as 3
specified for the original appointment. 4
‘‘(8) R
EMOVAL.— 5
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—No member of the 6
Board shall be removed from office, other than 7
by— 8
‘‘(i) impeachment and conviction; 9
‘‘(ii) the action of the President for 10
inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance in 11
office, physical disability, mental inca-12
pacity, or any other condition that sub-13
stantially impairs the performance of the 14
member’s duties; or 15
‘‘(iii) the Board in accordance with 16
subparagraph (B). 17
‘‘(B) A
CTION BY BOARD.—If the Director 18
of the Office of Government Ethics determines 19
that participation by a member of the Board in 20
high-risk life sciences research constitutes a 21
conflict of interest, the Board shall take steps 22
to mitigate or manage the conflict, which may 23
include removal. 24
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‘‘(C) NOTICE OF REMOVAL BY PRESI -1
DENT.— 2
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—In the case of the 3
removal of a member of the Board by the 4
President as described in subparagraph 5
(A)(ii), not later than 10 days after the re-6
moval, the President shall submit to the 7
chair and ranking member of the appro-8
priate congressional committees a report 9
specifying the facts found and the grounds 10
for removal. 11
‘‘(ii) P
UBLICATION OF REPORT .—The 12
President shall publish in the Federal Reg-13
ister each report submitted under clause 14
(i), except that the President may, if nec-15
essary to protect the rights of a person 16
named in the report or to prevent undue 17
interference with any pending prosecution, 18
postpone or refrain from publicly pub-19
lishing any or all of the report until the 20
completion of such pending cases or pursu-21
ant to privacy protection requirements in 22
law. 23
‘‘(c) M
ANDATORYCONFLICTS OF INTERESTRE-24
VIEW.— 25
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Board, in consultation 1
with the Director of the Office of Government Eth-2
ics, shall— 3
‘‘(A) not later than 180 days after the date 4
of the enactment of this chapter— 5
‘‘(i) establish criteria to determine 6
whether there is a conflict of interest with 7
respect to any individual appointed to the 8
Board, taking into consideration require-9
ments under Federal law relating to ethics 10
requirements for employees; and 11
‘‘(ii) upon an appointment of a mem-12
ber to the Board under subsection (a)(1) 13
thereafter, conduct a review of each indi-14
vidual nominated and appointed to the 15
Board to ensure the individual does not 16
have any conflict of interest under the cri-17
teria established pursuant to clause (i); 18
and 19
‘‘(B) periodically thereafter, conduct a re-20
view of each individual nominated and ap-21
pointed to the Board to ensure the individual 22
does not have any conflict of interest under the 23
criteria established pursuant to subparagraph 24
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(A)(i) during the term of service of the indi-1
vidual. 2
‘‘(2) N
OTIFICATION.— 3
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 3 days 4
after the date on which the Director of the Of-5
fice of Government Ethics becomes aware that 6
a member of the Board possesses a potential 7
conflict of interest under the criteria established 8
pursuant to paragraph (1)(A)(i), the Director 9
of the Office of Government Ethics shall notify 10
the chair and ranking member of the appro-11
priate congressional committees of the potential 12
conflict of interest. 13
‘‘(B) N
OTIFICATION BY MEMBER .—Not 14
later than 30 days after the date on which a 15
member of the Board becomes aware that an-16
other member of the Board possesses a poten-17
tial conflict of interest under the criteria estab-18
lished pursuant to paragraph (1)(A)(i), the 19
member of the Board or the Executive Director 20
of the Board shall notify the chair and ranking 21
member of the appropriate congressional com-22
mittees of the potential conflict of interest. 23
‘‘(d) S
ECURITYCLEARANCES.—All members of the 24
Board shall be granted all the necessary security clear-25
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ances and accesses, including to relevant Presidential and 1
department or agency special access and compartmented 2
access programs, in an accelerated manner, subject to the 3
standard procedures for granting such clearances. All 4
nominees for appointment to the Board shall qualify for 5
the necessary security clearances and accesses prior to 6
being considered for confirmation by the Committee on 7
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen-8
ate. 9
‘‘(e) P
ARTICIPATION INHIGH-RISKLIFESCIENCES 10
R
ESEARCH.— 11
‘‘(1) D
ISCLOSURE REQUIRED .—A member of 12
the Board shall disclose whether the member has 13
participated in or is currently participating in high- 14
risk life sciences research. 15
‘‘(2) C
ONFLICTS OF INTEREST.— 16
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The participation in 17
high-risk life sciences research by a member of 18
the Board— 19
‘‘(i) shall be considered a potential 20
conflict of interest; and 21
‘‘(ii) shall be subject to scrutiny by 22
the Director of the Office of Government 23
Ethics. 24
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‘‘(B) DETERMINATION.—If the Director of 1
the Office of Government Ethics determines 2
that participation by a member of the Board in 3
high-risk life sciences research constitutes a 4
conflict of interest, the Board shall take steps 5
to mitigate or manage the conflict, which may 6
include— 7
‘‘(i) the recusal of the affected mem-8
ber from relevant discussions and deter-9
minations; and 10
‘‘(ii) removal of the affected member 11
from the Board. 12
‘‘(f) C
OMPENSATION OFMEMBERS.— 13
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to such rules as 14
may be adopted by the Board, without regard to the 15
provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chap-16
ter 53 of title 5 relating to classification and Gen-17
eral Schedule pay rates, a member of the Board, 18
other than the Executive Director, shall be com-19
pensated at a rate— 20
‘‘(A) proposed by the Executive Director 21
and approved by the Board; 22
‘‘(B) not to exceed the rate of basic pay 23
for level II of the Executive Schedule; and 24
‘‘(C) that is commensurate with— 25
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‘‘(i) the time a member of the Board 1
spends engaged in the performance of du-2
ties on the Board; and 3
‘‘(ii) necessary traveling expenses. 4
‘‘(2) O
UTSIDE EMPLOYMENT .—Subject to terms 5
and approval determined by the Director of the Of-6
fice of Government Ethics, a member of the Board 7
may maintain outside employment and affiliations 8
while serving on the Board. 9
‘‘(g) O
VERSIGHT.— 10
‘‘(1) S
ENATE.—The Committee on Homeland 11
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 12
shall— 13
‘‘(A) have continuing legislative oversight 14
jurisdiction in the Senate with respect to the of-15
ficial conduct of the Board and agency compli-16
ance with requirements issued by the Board; 17
and 18
‘‘(B) have access to any records provided 19
to or created by the Board. 20
‘‘(2) H
OUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES .—The Com-21
mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 22
Representatives shall— 23
‘‘(A) have continuing legislative oversight 24
jurisdiction in the House of Representatives 25
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with respect to the official conduct of the Board 1
and agency compliance with requirements 2
issued by the Board; and 3
‘‘(B) have access to any records provided 4
to or created by the Board. 5
‘‘(3) D
UTY TO COOPERATE .—The Board shall 6
have the duty to cooperate with the exercise of over-7
sight jurisdiction described in this subsection. 8
‘‘(4) S
ECURITY CLEARANCES .—The chair and 9
ranking member of the appropriate congressional 10
committees, and designated committee staff, shall be 11
granted all security clearances and accesses held by 12
the Board, including to relevant Presidential and de-13
partment or agency special access and compart-14
mented access programs. 15
‘‘(h) O
FFICESPACE.— 16
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In selecting office space for 17
the Board, the Board shall exhaust options for un-18
used office spaces owned by the Federal Government 19
as of the date of enactment of this chapter. 20
‘‘(2) S
ECURE OFFICE SPACE.— 21
‘‘(A) R
EQUESTS.—In order to review or 22
discuss classified information, the Board shall 23
request an accommodation from relevant agen-24
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cies to access sensitive compartmented informa-1
tion facilities on an as-needed basis. 2
‘‘(B) F
ULFILMENT.—The head of an agen-3
cy from which the Board requests an accommo-4
dation under subparagraph (A) shall accommo-5
date the request in a timely manner. 6
‘‘§ 7903. Board personnel 7
‘‘(a) E
XECUTIVEDIRECTOR.— 8
‘‘(1) A
PPOINTMENT.—Not later than 45 days 9
after the date of enactment of this chapter, the 10
President shall appoint, by and with the advice and 11
consent of the Senate, 1 individual who is a citizen 12
of the United States, without regard to political af-13
filiation, to the position of Executive Director of the 14
Board for a term of 4 years. 15
‘‘(2) Q
UALIFICATIONS.—The individual ap-16
pointed as Executive Director under paragraph (1) 17
shall be a private individual of integrity and impar-18
tiality who— 19
‘‘(A) is a distinguished scientist in a life 20
sciences field; and 21
‘‘(B) is not, and has not been for the 3- 22
year period preceding the date of the appoint-23
ment— 24
‘‘(i) an employee; or 25
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‘‘(ii) a participant in high-risk life 1
sciences research supported by Federal 2
funding. 3
‘‘(3) S
ECURITY CLEARANCES .— 4
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—A candidate for Exec-5
utive Director of the Board shall be granted all 6
security clearances and accesses held by the 7
Board, including to relevant Presidential and 8
department or agency special access and com-9
partmented access programs in an accelerated 10
manner, subject to the standard procedures for 11
granting such clearances. 12
‘‘(B) Q
UALIFICATION PRIOR TO APPOINT -13
MENT.—The President shall ensure that a can-14
didate for Executive Director of the Board 15
qualifies for the security clearances and ac-16
cesses described in subparagraph (A) prior to 17
appointment. 18
‘‘(4) F
UNCTIONS.—The Executive Director of 19
the Board shall— 20
‘‘(A) serve as principal liaison to Congress 21
and agencies; 22
‘‘(B) serve as chair of the Board; 23
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‘‘(C) be responsible for the administration 1
and coordination of the responsibilities of the 2
Board; and 3
‘‘(D) be responsible for the administration 4
of all official activities conducted by the Board. 5
‘‘(5) R
EMOVAL.—Notwithstanding section 6
7902(b)(8), the Executive Director shall not be re-7
moved for reasons other than for cause on the 8
grounds of inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance 9
in office, physical disability, mental incapacity, or 10
any other condition that substantially impairs the 11
performance of the responsibilities of the Executive 12
Director or the staff of the Board. 13
‘‘(6) T
ERMS.—An Executive Director of the 14
Board shall not serve more than 2 terms. 15
‘‘(b) S
TAFF.— 16
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Without regard to the pro-17
visions of subchapter I of chapter 33 of title 5 gov-18
erning appointments in the competitive service, the 19
Board may appoint not more than 25 additional per-20
sonnel to enable the Board and the Executive Direc-21
tor to perform the duties of the Board. 22
‘‘(2) Q
UALIFICATIONS.—Each individual ap-23
pointed to the staff of the Board— 24
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‘‘(A) shall be a citizen of the United States 1
of integrity and impartiality; 2
‘‘(B) shall have expertise in the life 3
sciences field or the national security field; and 4
‘‘(C) may not be a participant in any fed-5
erally funded research activity on the date of 6
the appointment or during the course of service 7
of the individual on the Board. 8
‘‘(3) S
ECURITY CLEARANCES .— 9
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—A candidate for ap-10
pointment to the staff of the Board shall be 11
granted all security clearances and accesses 12
held by the Board, including to relevant Presi-13
dential and department or agency special access 14
and compartmented access programs, in an ac-15
celerated manner, subject to the standard pro-16
cedures for granting such clearances. 17
‘‘(B) C
ONDITIONAL EMPLOYMENT .— 18
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Board may 19
offer conditional employment to a can-20
didate for a staff position of the Board 21
pending the completion of security clear-22
ance background investigations. During 23
the pendency of such investigations, the 24
Board shall ensure that any such employee 25
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does not have access to, or responsibility 1
involving, classified or otherwise restricted 2
materials. 3
‘‘(ii) U
NQUALIFIED STAFF .—If the 4
Board determines that an individual hired 5
on a conditional basis under clause (i) is 6
not eligible or otherwise does not qualify 7
for all security clearances necessary to 8
carry out the responsibilities of the posi-9
tion for which conditional employment has 10
been offered, the Board shall immediately 11
terminate the individual’s employment. 12
‘‘(4) S
UPPORT FROM AGENCIES .— 13
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The head of each 14
agency shall designate not less than 1 full-time 15
employee of the agency as the representative of 16
the agency to— 17
‘‘(i) provide technical assistance to the 18
Board; and 19
‘‘(ii) support the review process of the 20
Board with respect to the agency under 21
section 7906 in a non-voting staff capacity. 22
‘‘(B) P
ROHIBITION.—A representative of 23
an agency designated under subparagraph (A) 24
and any employee of an agency may not directly 25
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or indirectly influence in any capacity a deter-1
mination by the Board under section 7906 with 2
respect to life sciences research funded by the 3
agency. 4
‘‘(c) C
OMPENSATION.—Subject to such rules as may 5
be adopted by the Board, without regard to the provisions 6
of title 5 governing appointments in the competitive serv-7
ice and without regard to the provisions of chapter 51 and 8
subchapter III of chapter 53 of that title relating to classi-9
fication and General Schedule pay rates, the Executive Di-10
rector of the Board shall— 11
‘‘(1) be compensated at a rate not to exceed the 12
rate of basic pay for level II of the Executive Sched-13
ule; 14
‘‘(2) serve the entire tenure as Executive Direc-15
tor as 1 full-time employee; and 16
‘‘(3) appoint and fix the compensation of such 17
other personnel as may be necessary to carry out 18
this chapter. 19
‘‘§ 7904. Board mission and functions 20
‘‘(a) M
ISSION.—The mission of the Board shall be 21
to issue an independent determination as to whether an 22
agency may award Federal funding for proposed high-risk 23
life sciences research, which shall be binding upon the 24
agency. 25
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‘‘(b) POWERS.—The Board shall have the authority 1
to act in a manner to carry out the mission described in 2
subsection (a), including authority to— 3
‘‘(1) prescribe regulations to carry out the re-4
sponsibilities of the Board; 5
‘‘(2) establish a process for the review of Fed-6
eral funding for high-risk life sciences research prior 7
to the award of the Federal funding, which shall be 8
binding upon an agency, including information des-9
ignated as classified or otherwise protected from dis-10
closure; 11
‘‘(3) direct an agency to make available to the 12
Board additional information and records, including 13
information designated as classified or otherwise 14
protected from disclosure, that the Board determines 15
are required to fulfill the functions and responsibil-16
ities Board under this chapter; 17
‘‘(4) review any classified research conducted or 18
funded by any agency to determine whether the re-19
search would be considered high-risk life sciences re-20
search; and 21
‘‘(5) through the promulgation of regulations, 22
establish processes, policies, and procedures of the 23
Board for rendering decisions under this chapter. 24
‘‘(c) I
NITIALREQUIREMENTS.—The Board shall— 25
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•HR 1864 IH
‘‘(1) not later than 180 days after the date of 1
appointment of the initial members of the Board 2
under section 7902, publish procedures in the Fed-3
eral Register establishing the process for the review 4
by the Board under section 7906; 5
‘‘(2) prior to the establishment of the proce-6
dures under paragraph (1), consult with the appro-7
priate congressional committees and heads of agen-8
cies for purposes of developing such procedures; and 9
‘‘(3) not later than 270 days after the date of 10
the enactment of this chapter, begin carrying out the 11
duties described in section 7906. 12
‘‘(d) R
ESPONSIVENESS TO CONGRESS.—Notwith-13
standing any other provision of law, not later than 30 days 14
after the date on which the Board receives a request for 15
information from a Member of Congress, the Board shall 16
respond to the request. 17
‘‘(e) C
ONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS.—Not less fre-18
quently than quarterly, the Board shall brief the appro-19
priate congressional committees on the work of the Board. 20
‘‘(f) S
ELECTAGENT ORTOXINUPDATES.— 21
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 15 days 22
after the date on which the Board receives a notifi-23
cation that a select agent or toxin has been added 24
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•HR 1864 IH
to a list of agent or toxins under a regulation de-1
scribed in paragraph (2), the Board shall— 2
‘‘(A) review the select agent or toxin; 3
‘‘(B) by majority vote of members of the 4
Board, determine whether the select agent or 5
toxin should be added into the definition of ‘se-6
lect agent or toxin’ under section 7901; and 7
‘‘(C) publish any addition determined 8
under subparagraph (B) in the Federal Reg-9
ister. 10
‘‘(2) R
EGULATIONS DESCRIBED .—A regulation 11
described in this paragraph is— 12
‘‘(A) section 73.3(b) of title 42, Code of 13
Federal Regulations, or any successor regula-14
tion; 15
‘‘(B) section 331.3(b) of title 7, Code of 16
Federal Regulations, or any successor regula-17
tion; and 18
‘‘(C) section 121.3(b) of title 9, Code of 19
Federal Regulations, or any successor regula-20
tion. 21
‘‘(g) F
INALDETERMINATION AUTHORITY.—In any 22
dispute with an agency or entity relating to the classifica-23
tion of life sciences research under this chapter, the Board 24
shall retain final and ultimate authority in— 25
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‘‘(1) determining whether the life sciences re-1
search is high-risk life sciences research, dual use re-2
search of concern involving a high-consequence 3
pathogen or gain of function research; 4
‘‘(2) interpreting definitions in section 7901; 5
and 6
‘‘(3) determining whether a proposed Federal 7
award for life sciences research is subject to the re-8
view process of the Board under section 7906(a)(1). 9
‘‘§ 7905. Agency procedures; referral to Board 10
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.— 11
‘‘(1) P
ROHIBITION.—The head of an agency 12
may not award Federal funding for— 13
‘‘(A) high-risk life sciences research with-14
out approval by the Board under section 15
7906(a)(1)(B); or 16
‘‘(B) life sciences research if the Board, in 17
accordance with section 7906(a)(2)(A)(ii), sub-18
mits notification to the agency under section 19
7906(a)(2)(B)(i) that the Board is reviewing 20
the Federal funding for life sciences research 21
under section 7906(a) until the date on which 22
the Board makes a final determination with re-23
spect to the proposed Federal funding. 24
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‘‘(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraph (1) shall 1
take effect on the date that is 180 days after the 2
date of enactment of this chapter. 3
‘‘(b) H
IGH-RISKATTESTATION; SELECTAGENT OR 4
T
OXINDISCLOSURE; CERTIFICATION.— 5
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—An entity seeking Federal 6
funding from an agency for life sciences research 7
shall, under the penalty of perjury— 8
‘‘(A) attest whether— 9
‘‘(i) the life sciences research will con-10
stitute high-risk life sciences research; and 11
‘‘(ii) the entity is performing active 12
research with a select agent or toxin; and 13
‘‘(B) if the entity makes a positive attesta-14
tion under subparagraph (A), disclose the 15
source of funding for all active research. 16
‘‘(2) A
CTIVE RESEARCH WITH SELECT AGENTS 17
OR TOXINS.— 18
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The head of an agen-19
cy that receives a disclosure from an entity 20
under paragraph (1)(B) shall submit to the 21
Board the disclosure. 22
‘‘(B) B
OARD INQUIRIES.—The Board may 23
contact an entity that submits a disclosure 24
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•HR 1864 IH
under paragraph (1)(B) to request additional 1
information relating to the disclosure. 2
‘‘(3) A
GENCY CERTIFICATION.— 3
‘‘(A) P
OSITIVE ATTESTATIONS.—The head 4
of an agency making an award of Federal fund-5
ing to an entity that makes a positive attesta-6
tion under paragraph (1)(A)(i) shall— 7
‘‘(i) submit to the Board the high-risk 8
life sciences proposal; and 9
‘‘(ii) using the process established by 10
the head of the agency under paragraph 11
(4), certify the validity of the attestation. 12
‘‘(B) N
EGATIVE ATTESTATIONS .—The 13
head of an agency making an award of Federal 14
funding to an entity that makes a negative at-15
testation under paragraph (1)(A)(i) shall— 16
‘‘(i) review the attestation; and 17
‘‘(ii) using the process established by 18
the head of the agency under paragraph 19
(4), certify the validity of the attestation. 20
‘‘(4) P
ROCESS FOR REVIEW.—The head of each 21
agency that awards Federal funding for life sciences 22
research, in consultation with the Board, shall estab-23
lish and implement a process for identifying pro-24
posals from entities seeking Federal funding for life 25
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•HR 1864 IH
sciences research from the agency that will con-1
stitute high-risk life sciences research. 2
‘‘(5) M
AINTENANCE OF RECORDS .—The head of 3
each agency shall— 4
‘‘(A) maintain records of the certification 5
process described in paragraph (3) for each ap-6
plication for Federal funding in accordance with 7
chapter 31 of title 44; and 8
‘‘(B) make the records maintained under 9
subparagraph (A) available for audit and review 10
upon request by the Board. 11
‘‘(c) N
OTIFICATION.— 12
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days be-13
fore the date on which the head of an agency plans 14
to award Federal funding to an entity for life 15
sciences research, the head of the agency shall sub-16
mit to the Board a notification of the proposed Fed-17
eral funding. 18
‘‘(2) C
ONTENTS.—The notification of Federal 19
funding for life sciences research required under 20
paragraph (1) shall include the attestation and cer-21
tification required under subsection (b). 22
‘‘(3) B
OARD REQUESTS.— 23
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Board may re-24
quest additional information from the head of 25
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•HR 1864 IH
an agency relating to a notification submitted 1
under paragraph (1). 2
‘‘(B) P
ROVISION OF INFORMATION .—The 3
head of an agency from which the Board re-4
quests additional information under subpara-5
graph (A) shall provide the information in a 6
timely manner. 7
‘‘(d) A
GENCYPROCEDURES.—Not later than 180 8
days after the date on which the Board publishes the proc-9
ess of the Board in the Federal Register pursuant to sec-10
tion 7904(c), the head of each agency shall publish on the 11
website of the agency prepayment and preaward proce-12
dures of the agency with respect to Federal funding for 13
life sciences research to— 14
‘‘(1) guarantee that— 15
‘‘(A) all high-risk life science research pro-16
posals are referred to the Board before the 17
award of Federal funding by the agency; 18
‘‘(B) no Federal funding for high-risk life 19
sciences research is awarded by the agency 20
without approval by the Board; and 21
‘‘(C) not later than 30 days before the 22
date on which the head of the agency plans to 23
award the Federal funding, the agency notifies 24
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•HR 1864 IH
the Board of the proposal for Federal funding; 1
and 2
‘‘(2) otherwise ensure compliance with this 3
chapter. 4
‘‘(e) P
ROVISION OFADDITIONALINFORMATION.— 5
Upon request by the Board, the head of an agency shall 6
provide any information relating to Federal funding 7
awards for life sciences research determined necessary by 8
the Board to provide oversight of the agency. 9
‘‘(f) C
HANGE IN CIRCUMSTANCES DURINGRE-10
SEARCH.—If, during the course of life sciences research 11
in progress performed by an entity supported by Federal 12
funding from an agency, circumstances arise such that the 13
life sciences research in progress may constitute high-risk 14
life sciences research in contravention to the attestation 15
of the entity under subsection (b)(1)(A)(i)— 16
‘‘(1) the entity shall— 17
‘‘(A) not later than 24 hours after the 18
identification of the change in circumstance, 19
pause the life sciences research in progress; and 20
‘‘(B) not later than 5 days after the date 21
of the identification of the change in cir-22
cumstance, submit to the head of the agency a 23
written notification through an electronic or 24
nonelectronic communication method that— 25
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•HR 1864 IH
‘‘(i) notifies the head of the agency of 1
the possibility that the life sciences re-2
search in progress may constitute high-risk 3
life sciences research; and 4
‘‘(ii) includes a detailed description of 5
each change in circumstance that may 6
transform the life sciences research in 7
progress into high-risk life sciences re-8
search; and 9
‘‘(2) the head of the agency shall— 10
‘‘(A) using the process of the agency estab-11
lished under subsection (b)(4), determine 12
whether the life sciences research in progress 13
constitutes high-risk life sciences research; 14
‘‘(B) if the head of the agency makes a 15
negative determination under subparagraph 16
(A), inform the entity that the entity may re-17
sume the life sciences research in progress; and 18
‘‘(C) if the head of the agency makes a 19
positive determination under subparagraph (A), 20
immediately submit to the Board a notification 21
of the Federal funding of high-risk life sciences 22
research in progress for review under section 23
7906(a)(1). 24
‘‘(g) E
NFORCEMENT.— 25
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•HR 1864 IH
‘‘(1) APPLICANT REQUIREMENTS .—If an entity 1
seeking or receiving Federal funding from an agency 2
knowingly fails to make a true attestation under 3
subsection (b)(1) or promptly notify the agency of a 4
change in circumstance in accordance with sub-5
section (f)(1), the head of the agency shall refer the 6
entity to the appropriate entity for suspension and 7
debarment proceedings relating to the receipt of 8
Federal funding. 9
‘‘(2) R
EFERRAL TO INSPECTOR GENERAL .—The 10
Board shall refer any employee of an agency respon-11
sible for overseeing and reviewing research proposals 12
relating to Federal funding that knowingly fails to 13
comply with subsection (b)(3) to the inspector gen-14
eral of the agency. 15
‘‘(3) E
MPLOYEE DISCIPLINE.— 16
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The head of an agen-17
cy employing an employee who knowingly vio-18
lates any provision of subsection (b)(3) (or, in 19
the case of the head of an agency who violates 20
any provision of subsection (b)(3), the Presi-21
dent) shall impose on that employee— 22
‘‘(i) disciplinary action in accordance 23
with chapter 75 of title 5 or an equivalent 24
procedure of the agency; and 25
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•HR 1864 IH
‘‘(ii) permanent revocation of any ap-1
plicable security clearance held by the em-2
ployee. 3
‘‘(B) C
ONTRACTOR PENALTY .—In the case 4
of contractor working under a contract with an 5
agency who knowingly violates subsection 6
(b)(1), the head of the agency shall refer the 7
contractor to the appropriate entity for suspen-8
sion and debarment proceedings relating to the 9
receipt of Federal funding. 10
‘‘(C) E
MPLOYEE DISCIPLINE REPORTS .— 11
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 12
360 days after the date of enactment of 13
this Act, and not less frequently than once 14
every 90 days thereafter, the head of each 15
agency shall submit to the Board and the 16
appropriate congressional committees a re-17
port that discloses, for the period covered 18
by the report, each violation by an em-19
ployee of the agency of subsection (b)(3). 20
‘‘(ii) C
ONTENTS.—Each report sub-21
mitted under clause (i) shall include, with 22
respect to a violation described in that 23
clause— 24
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•HR 1864 IH
‘‘(I) the name and professional 1
title of each employee engaged in the 2
violation; 3
‘‘(II) a detailed explanation of 4
the nature of the violation; and 5
‘‘(III) the date of the violation. 6
‘‘(iii) P
UBLICATION.—Not later than 7
5 days after the date on which the Board 8
receives a report under clause (i), the 9
Board shall publish on a publicly accessible 10
and searchable website the amount of vio-11
lations that have been committed under 12
clause (i). 13
‘‘(h) S
UBAWARD AND SUBCONTRACTOR DISCLO-14
SURE.— 15
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—During the course of high- 16
risk life sciences research in progress performed by 17
an entity supported by Federal funding from an 18
agency, the entity shall— 19
‘‘(A) continuously disclose to the head of 20
the agency any subcontracts or subawards made 21
or planned to be made with the Federal fund-22
ing; and 23
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‘‘(B) obtain consent from the head of the 1
agency before awarding a subcontract or award 2
described in subparagraph (A). 3
‘‘(2) A
GENCY SUBMISSION.—Not later than 30 4
days after the date on which the head of an agency 5
receives a disclosure under paragraph (1), the head 6
of the agency shall submit to the Board the disclo-7
sure. 8
‘‘(3) B
OARD INQUIRIES.— 9
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Board may con-10
tact an entity that submits a disclosure under 11
paragraph (1) to request additional information 12
relating to the disclosure. 13
‘‘(B) A
CCESS TO REPORTS .—During the 14
course of high-risk life sciences research in 15
progress performed by an entity supported by 16
Federal funding from an agency, upon request, 17
the Board shall have access to every annual re-18
port of— 19
‘‘(i) the agency; 20
‘‘(ii) the entity performing the high- 21
risk life sciences research; and 22
‘‘(iii) any subcontractor or sub-23
awardee of an entity described in clause 24
(ii). 25
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‘‘§ 7906. Board review 1
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.— 2
‘‘(1) H
IGH-RISK LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH .— 3
Not later than 120 days after the date on which the 4
Board receives a notification from an agency under 5
section 7905(c) relating to proposed Federal funding 6
for life sciences research that constitutes high-risk 7
life sciences research or the Board receives a notifi-8
cation from an agency under section 7905(f)(2)(C) 9
relating to Federal funding of research in progress 10
that constitutes high-risk life sciences research, the 11
Board shall— 12
‘‘(A) review the proposed Federal funding 13
or high-risk life sciences research in progress; 14
‘‘(B) by a majority vote, determine wheth-15
er the agency may award the proposed Federal 16
funding or continue to award the Federal fund-17
ing for the high-risk life sciences research in 18
progress; and 19
‘‘(C) by a majority vote, determine with re-20
spect to the high-risk life sciences research 21
funded by the proposed Federal funding or 22
Federal funding for high-risk life sciences re-23
search in progress— 24
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‘‘(i) the minimum required biosafety 1
containment level, engineering controls, 2
and operational controls; 3
‘‘(ii) the minimum required biosecu-4
rity engineering controls and operational 5
controls; and 6
‘‘(iii) the minimum required personnel 7
assurance controls. 8
‘‘(2) P
ROPOSED LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH .— 9
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—With respect to pro-10
posed Federal funding by an agency for life 11
sciences research, the Board may— 12
‘‘(i) review the proposed Federal fund-13
ing; and 14
‘‘(ii) determine whether the Board 15
should review the proposed Federal fund-16
ing in accordance with paragraph (1). 17
‘‘(B) N
OTIFICATION.—If the Board makes 18
a positive determination under subparagraph 19
(A)(ii) with respect to proposed Federal funding 20
by an agency— 21
‘‘(i) the Board shall notify the head of 22
the agency; and 23
‘‘(ii) the head of the agency may not 24
award the proposed Federal funding until 25
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the date on which the Board makes a final 1
determination with respect to the proposed 2
Federal funding under paragraph (1). 3
‘‘(3) P
AST FUNDING.—With respect to life 4
sciences research performed with Federal funding 5
awarded by an agency before the date of enactment 6
of this chapter, the Board may review and audit the 7
research in order to assess the compliance of the 8
agency with the provisions of this chapter. 9
‘‘(4) O
NGOING FUNDING FOR LIFE SCIENCES 10
RESEARCH.—With respect to Federal funding for 11
life sciences research in progress awarded by an 12
agency before the date of enactment of this Act that 13
the Board determines may constitute high-risk life 14
sciences research, the Board may— 15
‘‘(A) direct the agency to temporarily sus-16
pend the Federal funding; 17
‘‘(B) require the agency to provide com-18
plete information on the Federal funding in 19
order for the Board to complete a review of the 20
life sciences research under paragraph (1); and 21
‘‘(C) by a majority vote of members of the 22
Board, determine whether the agency may con-23
tinue the Federal funding. 24
‘‘(b) C
ONSIDERATIONS.— 25
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In making a determination 1
under subsection (a)(1)(B), the Board shall con-2
sider, with respect to the high-risk life sciences re-3
search that will be conducted with the proposed Fed-4
eral funding or high-risk life sciences research in 5
progress— 6
‘‘(A) whether the research poses a threat 7
to public health; 8
‘‘(B) whether the research poses a threat 9
to public safety; 10
‘‘(C) whether the research has a high prob-11
ability of producing benefits for public health; 12
‘‘(D) whether the research poses a threat 13
to large populations of animals and plants; 14
‘‘(E) whether the research poses a threat 15
to national security; 16
‘‘(F) whether the research is proposed to 17
be conducted in whole or at least in part in a 18
foreign country; 19
‘‘(G) the reasonably anticipated material 20
risks of the research; 21
‘‘(H) the reasonably anticipated informa-22
tion risks of the research; 23
‘‘(I) the reasonably anticipated benefits of 24
the research; 25
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‘‘(J) whether the reasonably anticipated 1
benefits of the research outweigh the reasonably 2
anticipated risks; and 3
‘‘(K) whether the benefits of the research 4
could be obtained through procedures posing 5
lower risks. 6
‘‘(2) W
EIGHT OF FACTORS .—The presence or 7
absence of any factor under paragraph (1) shall not 8
be decisive with respect to the determination of the 9
Board under subsection (a)(1)(B). 10
‘‘(c) N
OTICEFOLLOWINGREVIEW ANDDETERMINA-11
TION.— 12
‘‘(1) A
GENCY NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 5 13
days after the date on which the Board makes a de-14
termination under subsection (a)(1)(B) with respect 15
to Federal funding by an agency, the Executive Di-16
rector of the Board shall notify the head of the 17
agency of the determination. 18
‘‘(2) B
OARD CONSULTATION .— 19
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 10 20
days after receiving a notification from the 21
Board under paragraph (1), the head of an 22
agency may request a meeting with the Board 23
to discuss the determination of the Board. 24
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‘‘(B) BOARD RESPONSE.—The Board shall 1
schedule a meeting requested by the head of an 2
agency under subparagraph (A) in a timely 3
manner. 4
‘‘(3) N
OTIFICATION TO APPROPRIATE CONGRES -5
SIONAL COMMITTEES.—If the Board determines that 6
the head of an agency may not proceed with an 7
award of proposed Federal funding under this sec-8
tion, the Executive Director of the Board shall no-9
tify the appropriate congressional committees when 10
the Board notifies the head of the agency. 11
‘‘(d) R
EQUEST FOREXPEDITEDREVIEW.— 12
‘‘(1) D
EFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 13
‘emergency research’ means high-risk life sciences 14
research submitted to the Board that relates to a 15
public health emergency or addresses a specific na-16
tional security concern. 17
‘‘(2) R
EQUEST; NOTIFICATION.—The head of 18
an agency seeking expedited review from the Board 19
to award Federal funding for emergency research 20
shall— 21
‘‘(A) include a request for expedited review 22
in the notification required under section 23
7905(c); and 24
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‘‘(B) on the date of the notification de-1
scribed in subparagraph (A), submit to the 2
Board and the appropriate congressional com-3
mittees a notification that explains why the spe-4
cific public health emergency or national secu-5
rity concern necessitates expedited review under 6
this subsection. 7
‘‘(3) I
NTERNAL PROCESS.—The Board shall es-8
tablish an internal process under which the Board 9
will give proposed emergency research expedited re-10
view under this section. 11
‘‘(4) T
EMPORARY EMERGENCY RESEARCH .—If 12
the Board does not notify the head of an agency 13
with a determination under subsection (a)(1)(B) 14
with respect to proposed emergency research by the 15
date that is 15 days after the date on which the 16
head of the agency submits a request under para-17
graph (2)(A), the head of the agency may award 18
Federal funding for the emergency research on a 19
temporary basis. 20
‘‘(e) S
CIENTIFICEXPERTPANELS.— 21
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Board may establish a 22
scientific panel of nongovernmental experts to advise 23
the Board in the review by the Board of life sciences 24
research pursuant to this chapter. 25
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‘‘(2) POLICIES AND PROCEDURES .—The Board 1
shall establish and publish in the Federal Register 2
procedures and policies relating to conflicts of inter-3
est, recusal, expertise, and related matters before 4
the establishment of the panel described in para-5
graph (1). 6
‘‘(3) P
ROHIBITION.—An individual serving on 7
the panel established under paragraph (1) may not 8
advise the Board on any matter with respect to 9
which the individuals has an identified or perceived 10
conflict of interest. 11
‘‘(4) R
EPORT.— 12
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 30 13
days after the date on which the Board estab-14
lishes a panel established under paragraph (1), 15
the Board shall submit to the appropriate con-16
gressional committees a report that includes the 17
names, qualifications, and any identified or per-18
ceived conflicts of interest of individuals who 19
serve on the panel. 20
‘‘(B) P
ANEL CHANGES.—Upon a change of 21
personnel on the panel established under para-22
graph (1), the Board shall immediately submit 23
to the appropriate congressional committees an 24
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update to the report required under subpara-1
graph (A). 2
‘‘(f) R
EPORT.— 3
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 360 days 4
after the date on which the Board establishes the 5
panel described in subsection (e)(1), and annually 6
thereafter, the Board shall submit to the appropriate 7
congressional committees a report, which shall in-8
clude a classified annex, summarizing, with respect 9
to each determination by the Board under this sec-10
tion relating to high-risk life sciences research— 11
‘‘(A) the findings of the Board; 12
‘‘(B) the determination of the Board; 13
‘‘(C) the name and location of the entity 14
proposing the life sciences research; 15
‘‘(D) the name and location of any recipi-16
ent of a subaward or subcontractor of an entity 17
proposing life sciences research and the nature 18
of the participation of such a recipient or sub-19
contractor; and 20
‘‘(E) an account of significant challenges 21
or problems, including procedural or substantive 22
challenges or problems, that arise during the 23
course of the work of the Board, including the 24
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views of any member of the Board who wishes 1
to have those views included in the report. 2
‘‘(2) P
UBLIC REPORT.—On the date on which 3
the Board submits a report required under para-4
graph (1), the Board shall make the report, other 5
than the classified annex included in the report, 6
available on a website. 7
‘‘(g) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—This section shall take ef-8
fect on the date that is 270 days after the date of enact-9
ment of this chapter. 10
‘‘§ 7907. GAO Audits 11
‘‘The Comptroller General of the United States shall 12
periodically audit the Board. 13
‘‘§ 7908. Funding 14
‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to the Board 15
to carry out this chapter $30,000,000 for each of fiscal 16
years 2026 through 2035.’’. 17
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 18
for subtitle V of title 31, United States Code, is amended 19
by adding at the end the following: 20
‘‘79. Life Sciences Research Security Board .......................................... 7901’’.
(c) FINANCIALDISCLOSUREREPORTS OFBOARD 21
M
EMBERS.—Section 13103(f) of title 5, United States 22
Code, is amended— 23
(1) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 24
end; 25
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(2) in paragraph (12), by striking the period at 1
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 2
(3) by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(13) a member of the Life Sciences Research 4
Security Board established under section 7902 of 5
title 31.’’. 6
Æ
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