Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB706 Compare Versions

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Old	New		Differences
	1	+	I
1	2		119THCONGRESS
2	3		1
3	4		STSESSION H. R. 706
4		-	AN ACT
	5	+	To improve the biodetection functions of the Department of Homeland
	6	+	Security, and for other purposes.
	7	+	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
	8	+	JANUARY23, 2025
	9	+	Mr. S
	10	+	TRONG(for himself and Mr. HIGGINSof Louisiana) introduced the
	11	+	following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security
	12	+	A BILL
5	13		To improve the biodetection functions of the Department
6	14		of Homeland Security, and for other purposes.
7	15		Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
8		-	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
9		-	•HR 706 EH
10		-	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
11		-	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DHS Biodetection Im-2
12		-	provement Act’’. 3
13		-	SEC. 2. DHS UTILIZATION OF DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NA-4
14		-	TIONAL LABORATORIES AND SITES FOR CER-5
15		-	TAIN BIODETECTION RESEARCH AND DEVEL-6
16		-	OPMENT RELATING TO THE MISSIONS OF 7
17		-	THE DHS. 8
	16	+	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
	17	+	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
	18	+	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DHS Biodetection Im-4
	19	+	provement Act’’. 5
	20	+	VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Feb 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H706.IH H706
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	22	+	•HR 706 IH
	23	+	SEC. 2. DHS UTILIZATION OF DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NA-1
	24	+	TIONAL LABORATORIES AND SITES FOR CER-2
	25	+	TAIN BIODETECTION RESEARCH AND DEVEL-3
	26	+	OPMENT RELATING TO THE MISSIONS OF 4
	27	+	THE DHS. 5
18	28		(a) I
19		-	NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu-9
20		-	rity shall conduct an assessment of how the Department 10
21		-	of Homeland Security has utilized Department of Energy 11
22		-	national laboratories and sites regarding research and de-12
23		-	velopment in carrying out the missions of the Department 13
24		-	of Homeland Security, in accordance with section 309 of 14
25		-	the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 189). 15
	29	+	NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu-6
	30	+	rity shall conduct an assessment of how the Department 7
	31	+	of Homeland Security has utilized Department of Energy 8
	32	+	national laboratories and sites regarding research and de-9
	33	+	velopment in carrying out the missions of the Department 10
	34	+	of Homeland Security, in accordance with section 309 of 11
	35	+	the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 189). 12
26	36		(b) S
27		-	TRATEGY ON BIODETECTIONRESEARCH AND 16
	37	+	TRATEGY ON BIODETECTIONRESEARCH AND 13
28	38		D
29		-	EVELOPMENT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 17
30		-	of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 18
31		-	Security shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Se-19
32		-	curity of the House of Representatives and the Committee 20
33		-	on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 21
34		-	Senate the assessment required under subsection (a), to-22
35		-	gether with a strategy for how the Department of Home-23
36		-	land Security will conduct research and development in co-24
37		-	ordination with Department of Energy national labora-25
38		-	tories and sites to address biodetection research and devel-26 3
39		-	•HR 706 EH
40		-	opment of the Department of Homeland Security, includ-1
41		-	ing the following: 2
42		-	(1) Identifying biodetection technologies that 3
43		-	can, either individually or together, meet the bio-4
44		-	detection mission needs as outlined in Department 5
45		-	of Homeland Security capabilities analysis and re-6
46		-	quirements documents and informed by studies pro-7
47		-	duced by the Comptroller General of the United 8
48		-	States, such as the National Re-Assessment of the 9
49		-	BioWatch Collector Network to Increase the Frac-10
50		-	tion of Population Covered, as developed by the 11
51		-	Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office of 12
52		-	the Department in November 2021, and other such 13
53		-	future studies as applicable. 14
54		-	(2) Developing an acquisition and procurement 15
55		-	plan to acquire and provide, in accordance with Fed-16
56		-	eral law, the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and 17
57		-	Department of Homeland Security acquisition and 18
58		-	procurement management directives, the biodetection 19
59		-	technologies referred to in paragraph (1) to existing 20
60		-	BioWatch jurisdictions. 21
61		-	(3) Conducting periodic external evaluations to 22
62		-	identify gaps and potential failure points with re-23
63		-	spect to such biodetection technologies, and recom-24
64		-	mending contingency plans in the event such bio-25 4
65		-	•HR 706 EH
66		-	detection technologies do not perform as expected or 1
67		-	intended. 2
68		-	(4) Assisting, as appropriate and in partnership 3
69		-	with Federal, State, local, and Tribal governments, 4
70		-	institutions of higher education (as such term is de-5
71		-	fined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 6
72		-	1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)), and the private sector, with 7
73		-	the development of clearly defined program and 8
74		-	technical requirements for future Department of 9
75		-	Homeland Security environmental biodetection pro-10
76		-	grams, including any related transformational pro-11
77		-	gram of research and development. 12
	39	+	EVELOPMENT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 14
	40	+	of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 15
	41	+	Security shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Se-16
	42	+	curity of the House of Representatives and the Committee 17
	43	+	on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 18
	44	+	Senate the assessment required under subsection (a), to-19
	45	+	gether with a strategy for how the Department of Home-20
	46	+	land Security will conduct research and development in co-21
	47	+	ordination with Department of Energy national labora-22
	48	+	tories and sites to address biodetection research and devel-23
	49	+	opment of the Department of Homeland Security, includ-24
	50	+	ing the following: 25
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	53	+	•HR 706 IH
	54	+	(1) Identifying biodetection technologies that 1
	55	+	can, either individually or together, meet the bio-2
	56	+	detection mission needs as outlined in Department 3
	57	+	of Homeland Security capabilities analysis and re-4
	58	+	quirements documents and informed by studies pro-5
	59	+	duced by the Comptroller General of the United 6
	60	+	States, such as the National Re-Assessment of the 7
	61	+	BioWatch Collector Network to Increase the Frac-8
	62	+	tion of Population Covered, as developed by the 9
	63	+	Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office of 10
	64	+	the Department in November 2021, and other such 11
	65	+	future studies as applicable. 12
	66	+	(2) Developing an acquisition and procurement 13
	67	+	plan to acquire and provide, in accordance with Fed-14
	68	+	eral law, the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and 15
	69	+	Department of Homeland Security acquisition and 16
	70	+	procurement management directives, the biodetection 17
	71	+	technologies referred to in paragraph (1) to existing 18
	72	+	BioWatch jurisdictions. 19
	73	+	(3) Conducting periodic external evaluations to 20
	74	+	identify gaps and potential failure points with re-21
	75	+	spect to such biodetection technologies, and recom-22
	76	+	mending contingency plans in the event such bio-23
	77	+	detection technologies do not perform as expected or 24
	78	+	intended. 25
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	81	+	•HR 706 IH
	82	+	(4) Assisting, as appropriate and in partnership 1
	83	+	with Federal, State, local, and Tribal governments, 2
	84	+	institutions of higher education (as such term is de-3
	85	+	fined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 4
	86	+	1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)), and the private sector, with 5
	87	+	the development of clearly defined program and 6
	88	+	technical requirements for future Department of 7
	89	+	Homeland Security environmental biodetection pro-8
	90	+	grams, including any related transformational pro-9
	91	+	gram of research and development. 10
78	92		(c) R
79		-	EPORTS TOCONGRESS.—Not later than one 13
80		-	year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-14
81		-	retary of Homeland Security shall provide to the Com-15
82		-	mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Representa-16
83		-	tives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-17
84		-	ernmental Affairs of the Senate an update of the assess-18
85		-	ment and strategy required under this section, including 19
86		-	any challenges to implementing such strategy. 20
87		-	Passed the House of Representatives March 11,
88		-	2025.
89		-	Attest:
90		-	Clerk. 119
91		-	TH
92		-	CONGRESS
93		-	1
94		-	ST
95		-	S
96		-	ESSION
97		-
98		-	H. R. 706
99		-	AN ACT
100		-	To improve the biodetection functions of the De-
101		-	partment of Homeland Security, and for other
102		-	purposes.
	93	+	EPORTS TOCONGRESS.—Not later than one 11
	94	+	year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-12
	95	+	retary of Homeland Security shall provide to the Com-13
	96	+	mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Representa-14
	97	+	tives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-15
	98	+	ernmental Affairs of the Senate an update of the assess-16
	99	+	ment and strategy required under this section, including 17
	100	+	any challenges to implementing such strategy. 18
	101	+	Æ
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