II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 854
To amend title 31, United States Code, to establish the Life Sciences
Research Security Board, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH5, 2025
Mr. P
AUL(for himself and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs
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
SEC. 2. LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH SECURITY BOARD. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subtitle V of title 31, United 7
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-8
lowing: 9
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‘‘CHAPTER 79—LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH 1
SECURITY BOARD 2
‘‘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 3
‘‘In this chapter: 4
‘‘(1) A
GENCY.—The term ‘agency’ has the 5
meaning given the term in section 552(f) of title 5. 6
‘‘(2) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -7
TEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional com-8
mittees’ means the Committee on Homeland Secu-9
rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 10
Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 11
of Representatives. 12
‘‘(3) B
OARD.—The term ‘Board’ means the 13
Life Sciences Research Security Board established 14
under section 7902(a). 15
‘‘(4) D
UAL USE RESEARCH OF CONCERN .—The 16
term ‘dual use research of concern’— 17
‘‘(A) means life sciences research that, 18
based on current understanding, can be reason-19
ably anticipated to provide knowledge, informa-20
tion, products, or technologies that could— 21
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‘‘(i) be misapplied to do harm with no 1
modification or only a minor modification; 2
and 3
‘‘(ii) pose a significant threat with po-4
tential consequences to public health and 5
safety, agricultural crops and other plants, 6
animals, materiel, or national security; and 7
‘‘(B) includes— 8
‘‘(i) life sciences research that could— 9
‘‘(I) increase transmissibility of a 10
pathogen within or between host spe-11
cies; 12
‘‘(II) increase the virulence of a 13
pathogen or convey virulence to a non- 14
pathogen; 15
‘‘(III) increase the toxicity of a 16
known toxin or produce a novel toxin; 17
‘‘(IV) increase— 18
‘‘(aa) the stability of a 19
pathogen or toxin in the environ-20
ment; or 21
‘‘(bb) the ability to dissemi-22
nate a pathogen or toxin; 23
‘‘(V) alter the host range or tro-24
pism of a pathogen or toxin; 25
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‘‘(VI) decrease the ability for a 1
human or veterinary pathogen or 2
toxin to be detected using standard 3
diagnostic or analytical methods; 4
‘‘(VII) increase resistance of a 5
pathogen or toxin to clinical or veteri-6
nary prophylactic or therapeutic inter-7
ventions; 8
‘‘(VIII) alter a human or veteri-9
nary pathogen or toxin to disrupt the 10
effectiveness of pre-existing immunity, 11
via immunization or natural infection, 12
against the pathogen or toxin; 13
‘‘(IX) enhance the susceptibility 14
of a host population to a pathogen or 15
toxin; 16
‘‘(X) enhance transmissibility of 17
a pathogen in humans; 18
‘‘(XI) enhance the virulence of a 19
pathogen in humans; 20
‘‘(XII) enhance the immune eva-21
sion of a pathogen in humans, such as 22
by modifying the pathogen to disrupt 23
the effectiveness of pre-existing immu-24
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nity via immunization or natural in-1
fection; or 2
‘‘(XIII) generate, use, reconsti-3
tute, or transfer an eradicated or ex-4
tinct high-consequence pathogen; and 5
‘‘(ii) any other category of life 6
sciences research that the Board, by ma-7
jority vote of the members of the Board, 8
identifies and publishes in the Federal 9
Register. 10
‘‘(5) E
MPLOYEE.—The term ‘employee’ means 11
an individual described in section 2105(a) of title 5. 12
‘‘(6) F
EDERAL FUNDING .—The term ‘Federal 13
funding’ means amounts awarded by an agency pur-14
suant to an intramural or extramural grant, cooper-15
ative agreement, interagency agreement, contract, or 16
other instrument. 17
‘‘(7) G
AIN OF FUNCTION RESEARCH .—The 18
term ‘gain of function research’ means a research 19
experiment that may enhance the transmissibility or 20
virulence of a high-consequence pathogen. 21
‘‘(8) H
IGH-CONSEQUENCE PATHOGEN .—The 22
term ‘high-consequence pathogen’— 23
‘‘(A) means a wild-type or synthetic patho-24
gen that— 25
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‘‘(i)(I) is likely capable of wide and 1
uncontrollable spread in human popu-2
lations; and 3
‘‘(II) would likely cause moderate to 4
severe disease or mortality in humans; or 5
‘‘(ii) is— 6
‘‘(I) subject to subparagraph (B), 7
influenza A virus; 8
‘‘(II) classified under subgenus 9
Sarbecovirus; 10
‘‘(III) classified under subgenus 11
Merbecovirus; 12
‘‘(IV) Variola orthopoxvirus; 13
‘‘(V) Mpox orthopoxvirus; 14
‘‘(VI) Nipah henipavirus; 15
‘‘(VII) Hendra henipavirus; 16
‘‘(VIII) Ebola orthoebolavirus; 17
‘‘(IX) Marburg marburgvirus; 18
‘‘(X) Lassa mammarenavirus; 19
‘‘(XI) Junin arenavirus; 20
‘‘(XII) Crimean-Congo hemor-21
rhagic fever orthonairovirus; 22
‘‘(XIII) Hantaan 23
orthohantavirus; 24
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‘‘(XIV) Sin Nombre 1
orthohantavirus; 2
‘‘(XV) Yersinia pestis; 3
‘‘(XVI) a select agent or toxin, 4
work with which poses a significant 5
risk of deliberate misuse; 6
‘‘(XVII) any other pathogen or 7
category of pathogen that a majority 8
of members of the Board— 9
‘‘(aa) identifies as a high- 10
consequence pathogen; and 11
‘‘(bb) publishes in the Fed-12
eral Register; or 13
‘‘(XVIII) any synthetic construct 14
of a pathogen or category of pathogen 15
described in this clause; and 16
‘‘(B) does not include a seasonal influenza 17
virus, unless a seasonal influenza virus has been 18
manipulated to include genetic sequences from 19
a pathogen described in subparagraph (A). 20
‘‘(9) H
IGH-RISK LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH .— 21
The term ‘high-risk life sciences research’ means life 22
sciences research that is— 23
‘‘(A) dual use research of concern involving 24
a high-consequence pathogen; or 25
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‘‘(B) gain of function research. 1
‘‘(10) L
IFE SCIENCES RESEARCH .—The term 2
‘life sciences research’— 3
‘‘(A) means the study or use of a living or-4
ganism, a virus, or a product of a living orga-5
nism or virus; and 6
‘‘(B) includes each discipline, methodology, 7
and application of biology, including bio-8
technology, genomics, proteomics, 9
bioinformatics, and pharmaceutical and bio-10
medical research and techniques. 11
‘‘(11) S
ELECT AGENT OR TOXIN .—The term 12
‘select agent or toxin’ means a select agent or toxin 13
identified under— 14
‘‘(A) section 73.3(b) of title 42, Code of 15
Federal Regulations, as in effect on the date of 16
enactment of the Risky Research Review Act; 17
‘‘(B) section 331.3(b) of title 7, Code of 18
Federal Regulations, as in effect on the date of 19
enactment of the Risky Research Review Act; 20
or 21
‘‘(C) section 121.3(b) of title 9, Code of 22
Federal Regulations, as in effect on the date of 23
enactment of the Risky Research Review Act. 24
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‘‘§ 7902. Establishment and membership 1
‘‘(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established as an 2
independent agency within the Executive Branch a board 3
to be known as the ‘Life Sciences Research Security 4
Board’ to review proposed Federal funding for life sciences 5
research in accordance with section 7906. 6
‘‘(b) A
PPOINTMENT OFMEMBERS.— 7
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The President shall ap-8
point, without regard to political affiliation, 9 indi-9
viduals who are citizens of the United States to 10
serve as members of the Board for not more than 11
2 terms of 4 years each, including— 12
‘‘(A) the Executive Director appointed 13
under section 7903(a); 14
‘‘(B) 5 nongovernmental scientists in a life 15
sciences field; 16
‘‘(C) 2 nongovernmental national security 17
experts; and 18
‘‘(D) 1 nongovernmental biosafety expert. 19
‘‘(2) P
ERIOD FOR NOMINATIONS .—The Presi-20
dent shall make appointments, other than the Exec-21
utive Director, to the Board not later than 30 days 22
after the date of enactment of this chapter. 23
‘‘(3) C
ONSIDERATIONS OF RECOMMENDA -24
TIONS.—The President shall make appointments to 25
the Board after considering individuals rec-26
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ommended by the chair and ranking member of the 1
appropriate congressional committees. 2
‘‘(4) Q
UALIFICATIONS.—Individuals appointed 3
to the Board— 4
‘‘(A) shall— 5
‘‘(i) be impartial individuals; and 6
‘‘(ii) be distinguished individuals of 7
high national professional reputation in 8
their respective fields who are capable of 9
exercising the independent and objective 10
judgment necessary to conduct an impar-11
tial assessment of the potential risks and 12
benefits associated with Federal funding of 13
high-risk life sciences research to public 14
health and national security; and 15
‘‘(B) may not be an employee on the date 16
of the appointment or during the 3-year period 17
preceding the date of the appointment. 18
‘‘(5) L
IMITATIONS.—Not more than 4 concur-19
rent members of the Board may be an employee, a 20
subcontractor, a previous employee, or a previous 21
subcontractor of— 22
‘‘(A) the Department of Defense; 23
‘‘(B) the Department of Homeland Secu-24
rity; 25
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‘‘(C) the National Institute of Allergy and 1
Infectious Diseases of the Department of 2
Health and Human Services; 3
‘‘(D) the Office of the Director of National 4
Intelligence; or 5
‘‘(E) the Department of Energy. 6
‘‘(6) C
ONSIDERATION BY THE SENATE .— 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Nominations for ap-8
pointment to the Executive Director of the 9
Board shall be referred to the Committee on 10
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 11
of the Senate for consideration. 12
‘‘(B) R
ENOMINATION.—A member of the 13
Board who is recommended to serve a second 14
term shall be nominated for appointment to the 15
Board, and such nomination shall be referred 16
pursuant to subparagraph (A). 17
‘‘(7) V
ACANCY.—Not later than 30 days after 18
the date on which a vacancy on the Board occurs, 19
the vacancy shall be filled in the same manner as 20
specified for the original appointment. 21
‘‘(8) R
EMOVAL.— 22
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—No member of the 23
Board shall be removed from office, other than 24
by— 25
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‘‘(i) impeachment and conviction; 1
‘‘(ii) the action of the President for 2
inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance in 3
office, physical disability, mental inca-4
pacity, or any other condition that sub-5
stantially impairs the performance of the 6
member’s duties; or 7
‘‘(iii) the Board in accordance with 8
subparagraph (B). 9
‘‘(B) A
CTION BY BOARD.—If the Director 10
of the Office of Government Ethics determines 11
that participation by a member of the Board in 12
high-risk life sciences research constitutes a 13
conflict of interest, the Board shall take steps 14
to mitigate or manage the conflict, which may 15
include removal. 16
‘‘(C) N
OTICE OF REMOVAL BY PRESI -17
DENT.— 18
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—In the case of the 19
removal of a member of the Board by the 20
President as described in subparagraph 21
(A)(ii), not later than 10 days after the re-22
moval, the President shall submit to the 23
chair and ranking member of the appro-24
priate congressional committees a report 25
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specifying the facts found and the grounds 1
for removal. 2
‘‘(ii) P
UBLICATION OF REPORT .—The 3
President shall publish in the Federal Reg-4
ister each report submitted under clause 5
(i), except that the President may, if nec-6
essary to protect the rights of a person 7
named in the report or to prevent undue 8
interference with any pending prosecution, 9
postpone or refrain from publicly pub-10
lishing any or all of the report until the 11
completion of such pending cases or pursu-12
ant to privacy protection requirements in 13
law. 14
‘‘(c) M
ANDATORYCONFLICTS OF INTERESTRE-15
VIEW.— 16
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Board, in consultation 17
with the Director of the Office of Government Eth-18
ics, shall— 19
‘‘(A) not later than 180 days after the date 20
of the enactment of this chapter— 21
‘‘(i) establish criteria to determine 22
whether there is a conflict of interest with 23
respect to any individual appointed to the 24
Board, taking into consideration require-25
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ments under Federal law relating to ethics 1
requirements for employees; and 2
‘‘(ii) upon an appointment of a mem-3
ber to the Board under subsection (a)(1) 4
thereafter, conduct a review of each indi-5
vidual nominated and appointed to the 6
Board to ensure the individual does not 7
have any conflict of interest under the cri-8
teria established pursuant to clause (i); 9
and 10
‘‘(B) periodically thereafter, conduct a re-11
view of each individual nominated and ap-12
pointed to the Board to ensure the individual 13
does not have any conflict of interest under the 14
criteria established pursuant to subparagraph 15
(A)(i) during the term of service of the indi-16
vidual. 17
‘‘(2) N
OTIFICATION.— 18
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 3 days 19
after the date on which the Director of the Of-20
fice of Government Ethics becomes aware that 21
a member of the Board possesses a potential 22
conflict of interest under the criteria established 23
pursuant to paragraph (1)(A)(i), the Director 24
of the Office of Government Ethics shall notify 25
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the chair and ranking member of the appro-1
priate congressional committees of the potential 2
conflict of interest. 3
‘‘(B) N
OTIFICATION BY MEMBER .—Not 4
later than 30 days after the date on which a 5
member of the Board becomes aware that an-6
other member of the Board possesses a poten-7
tial conflict of interest under the criteria estab-8
lished pursuant to paragraph (1)(A)(i), the 9
member of the Board or the Executive Director 10
of the Board shall notify the chair and ranking 11
member of the appropriate congressional com-12
mittees of the potential conflict of interest. 13
‘‘(d) S
ECURITYCLEARANCES.—All members of the 14
Board shall be granted all the necessary security clear-15
ances and accesses, including to relevant Presidential and 16
department or agency special access and compartmented 17
access programs, in an accelerated manner, subject to the 18
standard procedures for granting such clearances. All 19
nominees for appointment to the Board shall qualify for 20
the necessary security clearances and accesses prior to 21
being considered for confirmation by the Committee on 22
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen-23
ate. 24
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‘‘(e) PARTICIPATION INHIGH-RISKLIFESCIENCES 1
R
ESEARCH.— 2
‘‘(1) D
ISCLOSURE REQUIRED .—A member of 3
the Board shall disclose whether the member has 4
participated in or is currently participating in high- 5
risk life sciences research. 6
‘‘(2) C
ONFLICTS OF INTEREST.— 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The participation in 8
high-risk life sciences research by a member of 9
the Board— 10
‘‘(i) shall be considered a potential 11
conflict of interest; and 12
‘‘(ii) shall be subject to scrutiny by 13
the Director of the Office of Government 14
Ethics. 15
‘‘(B) D
ETERMINATION.—If the Director of 16
the Office of Government Ethics determines 17
that participation by a member of the Board in 18
high-risk life sciences research constitutes a 19
conflict of interest, the Board shall take steps 20
to mitigate or manage the conflict, which may 21
include— 22
‘‘(i) the recusal of the affected mem-23
ber from relevant discussions and deter-24
minations; and 25
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‘‘(ii) removal of the affected member 1
from the Board. 2
‘‘(f) C
OMPENSATION OFMEMBERS.— 3
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to such rules as 4
may be adopted by the Board, without regard to the 5
provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chap-6
ter 53 of title 5 relating to classification and Gen-7
eral Schedule pay rates, a member of the Board, 8
other than the Executive Director, shall be com-9
pensated at a rate— 10
‘‘(A) proposed by the Executive Director 11
and approved by the Board; 12
‘‘(B) not to exceed the rate of basic pay 13
for level II of the Executive Schedule; and 14
‘‘(C) that is commensurate with— 15
‘‘(i) the time a member of the Board 16
spends engaged in the performance of du-17
ties on the Board; and 18
‘‘(ii) necessary traveling expenses. 19
‘‘(2) O
UTSIDE EMPLOYMENT .—Subject to terms 20
and approval determined by the Director of the Of-21
fice of Government Ethics, a member of the Board 22
may maintain outside employment and affiliations 23
while serving on the Board. 24
‘‘(g) O
VERSIGHT.— 25
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‘‘(1) SENATE.—The Committee on Homeland 1
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 2
shall— 3
‘‘(A) have continuing legislative oversight 4
jurisdiction in the Senate with respect to the of-5
ficial conduct of the Board and agency compli-6
ance with requirements issued by the Board; 7
and 8
‘‘(B) have access to any records provided 9
to or created by the Board. 10
‘‘(2) H
OUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES .—The Com-11
mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 12
Representatives shall— 13
‘‘(A) have continuing legislative oversight 14
jurisdiction in the House of Representatives 15
with respect to the official conduct of the Board 16
and agency compliance with requirements 17
issued by the Board; and 18
‘‘(B) have access to any records provided 19
to or created by the Board. 20
‘‘(3) D
UTY TO COOPERATE .—The Board shall 21
have the duty to cooperate with the exercise of over-22
sight jurisdiction described in this subsection. 23
‘‘(4) S
ECURITY CLEARANCES .—The chair and 24
ranking member of the appropriate congressional 25
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committees, and designated committee staff, shall be 1
granted all security clearances and accesses held by 2
the Board, including to relevant Presidential and de-3
partment or agency special access and compart-4
mented access programs. 5
‘‘(h) O
FFICESPACE.— 6
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In selecting office space for 7
the Board, the Board shall exhaust options for un-8
used office spaces owned by the Federal Government 9
as of the date of enactment of this chapter. 10
‘‘(2) S
ECURE OFFICE SPACE.— 11
‘‘(A) R
EQUESTS.—In order to review or 12
discuss classified information, the Board shall 13
request an accommodation from relevant agen-14
cies to access sensitive compartmented informa-15
tion facilities on an as-needed basis. 16
‘‘(B) F
ULFILMENT.—The head of an agen-17
cy from which the Board requests an accommo-18
dation under subparagraph (A) shall accommo-19
date the request in a timely manner. 20
‘‘§ 7903. Board personnel 21
‘‘(a) E
XECUTIVEDIRECTOR.— 22
‘‘(1) A
PPOINTMENT.—Not later than 45 days 23
after the date of enactment of this chapter, the 24
President shall appoint, by and with the advice and 25
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consent of the Senate, 1 individual who is a citizen 1
of the United States, without regard to political af-2
filiation, to the position of Executive Director of the 3
Board for a term of 4 years. 4
‘‘(2) Q
UALIFICATIONS.—The individual ap-5
pointed as Executive Director under paragraph (1) 6
shall be a private individual of integrity and impar-7
tiality who— 8
‘‘(A) is a distinguished scientist in a life 9
sciences field; and 10
‘‘(B) is not, and has not been for the 3- 11
year period preceding the date of the appoint-12
ment— 13
‘‘(i) an employee; or 14
‘‘(ii) a participant in high-risk life 15
sciences research supported by Federal 16
funding. 17
‘‘(3) S
ECURITY CLEARANCES .— 18
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—A candidate for Exec-19
utive Director of the Board shall be granted all 20
security clearances and accesses held by the 21
Board, including to relevant Presidential and 22
department or agency special access and com-23
partmented access programs in an accelerated 24
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manner, subject to the standard procedures for 1
granting such clearances. 2
‘‘(B) Q
UALIFICATION PRIOR TO APPOINT -3
MENT.—The President shall ensure that a can-4
didate for Executive Director of the Board 5
qualifies for the security clearances and ac-6
cesses described in subparagraph (A) prior to 7
appointment. 8
‘‘(4) F
UNCTIONS.—The Executive Director of 9
the Board shall— 10
‘‘(A) serve as principal liaison to Congress 11
and agencies; 12
‘‘(B) serve as chair of the Board; 13
‘‘(C) be responsible for the administration 14
and coordination of the responsibilities of the 15
Board; and 16
‘‘(D) be responsible for the administration 17
of all official activities conducted by the Board. 18
‘‘(5) R
EMOVAL.—Notwithstanding section 19
7902(b)(8), the Executive Director shall not be re-20
moved for reasons other than for cause on the 21
grounds of inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance 22
in office, physical disability, mental incapacity, or 23
any other condition that substantially impairs the 24
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performance of the responsibilities of the Executive 1
Director or the staff of the Board. 2
‘‘(6) T
ERMS.—An Executive Director of the 3
Board shall not serve more than 2 terms. 4
‘‘(b) S
TAFF.— 5
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Without regard to the pro-6
visions of subchapter I of chapter 33 of title 5 gov-7
erning appointments in the competitive service, the 8
Board may appoint not more than 25 additional per-9
sonnel to enable the Board and the Executive Direc-10
tor to perform the duties of the Board. 11
‘‘(2) Q
UALIFICATIONS.—Each individual ap-12
pointed to the staff of the Board— 13
‘‘(A) shall be a citizen of the United States 14
of integrity and impartiality; 15
‘‘(B) shall have expertise in the life 16
sciences field or the national security field; and 17
‘‘(C) may not be a participant in any fed-18
erally funded research activity on the date of 19
the appointment or during the course of service 20
of the individual on the Board. 21
‘‘(3) S
ECURITY CLEARANCES .— 22
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—A candidate for ap-23
pointment to the staff of the Board shall be 24
granted all security clearances and accesses 25
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•S 854 IS
held by the Board, including to relevant Presi-1
dential and department or agency special access 2
and compartmented access programs, in an ac-3
celerated manner, subject to the standard pro-4
cedures for granting such clearances. 5
‘‘(B) C
ONDITIONAL EMPLOYMENT .— 6
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Board may 7
offer conditional employment to a can-8
didate for a staff position of the Board 9
pending the completion of security clear-10
ance background investigations. During 11
the pendency of such investigations, the 12
Board shall ensure that any such employee 13
does not have access to, or responsibility 14
involving, classified or otherwise restricted 15
materials. 16
‘‘(ii) U
NQUALIFIED STAFF .—If the 17
Board determines that an individual hired 18
on a conditional basis under clause (i) is 19
not eligible or otherwise does not qualify 20
for all security clearances necessary to 21
carry out the responsibilities of the posi-22
tion for which conditional employment has 23
been offered, the Board shall immediately 24
terminate the individual’s employment. 25
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‘‘(4) SUPPORT FROM AGENCIES .— 1
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The head of each 2
agency shall designate not less than 1 full-time 3
employee of the agency as the representative of 4
the agency to— 5
‘‘(i) provide technical assistance to the 6
Board; and 7
‘‘(ii) support the review process of the 8
Board with respect to the agency under 9
section 7906 in a non-voting staff capacity. 10
‘‘(B) P
ROHIBITION.—A representative of 11
an agency designated under subparagraph (A) 12
and any employee of an agency may not directly 13
or indirectly influence in any capacity a deter-14
mination by the Board under section 7906 with 15
respect to life sciences research funded by the 16
agency. 17
‘‘(c) C
OMPENSATION.—Subject to such rules as may 18
be adopted by the Board, without regard to the provisions 19
of title 5 governing appointments in the competitive serv-20
ice and without regard to the provisions of chapter 51 and 21
subchapter III of chapter 53 of that title relating to classi-22
fication and General Schedule pay rates, the Executive Di-23
rector of the Board shall— 24
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•S 854 IS
‘‘(1) be compensated at a rate not to exceed the 1
rate of basic pay for level II of the Executive Sched-2
ule; 3
‘‘(2) serve the entire tenure as Executive Direc-4
tor as 1 full-time employee; and 5
‘‘(3) appoint and fix the compensation of such 6
other personnel as may be necessary to carry out 7
this chapter. 8
‘‘§ 7904. Board mission and functions 9
‘‘(a) M
ISSION.—The mission of the Board shall be 10
to issue an independent determination as to whether an 11
agency may award Federal funding for proposed high-risk 12
life sciences research, which shall be binding upon the 13
agency. 14
‘‘(b) P
OWERS.—The Board shall have the authority 15
to act in a manner to carry out the mission described in 16
subsection (a), including authority to— 17
‘‘(1) prescribe regulations to carry out the re-18
sponsibilities of the Board; 19
‘‘(2) establish a process for the review of Fed-20
eral funding for high-risk life sciences research prior 21
to the award of the Federal funding, which shall be 22
binding upon an agency, including information des-23
ignated as classified or otherwise protected from dis-24
closure; 25
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•S 854 IS
‘‘(3) direct an agency to make available to the 1
Board additional information and records, including 2
information designated as classified or otherwise 3
protected from disclosure, that the Board determines 4
are required to fulfill the functions and responsibil-5
ities Board under this chapter; 6
‘‘(4) review any classified research conducted or 7
funded by any agency to determine whether the re-8
search would be considered high-risk life sciences re-9
search; and 10
‘‘(5) through the promulgation of regulations, 11
establish processes, policies, and procedures of the 12
Board for rendering decisions under this chapter. 13
‘‘(c) I
NITIALREQUIREMENTS.—The Board shall— 14
‘‘(1) not later than 180 days after the date of 15
appointment of the initial members of the Board 16
under section 7902, publish procedures in the Fed-17
eral Register establishing the process for the review 18
by the Board under section 7906; 19
‘‘(2) prior to the establishment of the proce-20
dures under paragraph (1), consult with the appro-21
priate congressional committees and heads of agen-22
cies for purposes of developing such procedures; and 23
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‘‘(3) not later than 270 days after the date of 1
the enactment of this chapter, begin carrying out the 2
duties described in section 7906. 3
‘‘(d) R
ESPONSIVENESS TO CONGRESS.—Notwith-4
standing any other provision of law, not later than 30 days 5
after the date on which the Board receives a request for 6
information from a Member of Congress, the Board shall 7
respond to the request. 8
‘‘(e) C
ONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS.—Not less fre-9
quently than quarterly, the Board shall brief the appro-10
priate congressional committees on the work of the Board. 11
‘‘(f) S
ELECTAGENT ORTOXINUPDATES.— 12
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 15 days 13
after the date on which the Board receives a notifi-14
cation that a select agent or toxin has been added 15
to a list of agent or toxins under a regulation de-16
scribed in paragraph (2), the Board shall— 17
‘‘(A) review the select agent or toxin; 18
‘‘(B) by majority vote of members of the 19
Board, determine whether the select agent or 20
toxin should be added into the definition of ‘se-21
lect agent or toxin’ under section 7901; and 22
‘‘(C) publish any addition determined 23
under subparagraph (B) in the Federal Reg-24
ister. 25
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•S 854 IS
‘‘(2) REGULATIONS DESCRIBED .—A regulation 1
described in this paragraph is— 2
‘‘(A) section 73.3(b) of title 42, Code of 3
Federal Regulations, or any successor regula-4
tion; 5
‘‘(B) section 331.3(b) of title 7, Code of 6
Federal Regulations, or any successor regula-7
tion; and 8
‘‘(C) section 121.3(b) of title 9, Code of 9
Federal Regulations, or any successor regula-10
tion. 11
‘‘(g) F
INALDETERMINATION AUTHORITY.—In any 12
dispute with an agency or entity relating to the classifica-13
tion of life sciences research under this chapter, the Board 14
shall retain final and ultimate authority in— 15
‘‘(1) determining whether the life sciences re-16
search is high-risk life sciences research, dual use re-17
search of concern involving a high-consequence 18
pathogen or gain of function research; 19
‘‘(2) interpreting definitions in section 7901; 20
and 21
‘‘(3) determining whether a proposed Federal 22
award for life sciences research is subject to the re-23
view process of the Board under section 7906(a)(1). 24
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•S 854 IS
‘‘§ 7905. Agency procedures; referral to Board 1
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.— 2
‘‘(1) P
ROHIBITION.—The head of an agency 3
may not award Federal funding for— 4
‘‘(A) high-risk life sciences research with-5
out approval by the Board under section 6
7906(a)(1)(B); or 7
‘‘(B) life sciences research if the Board, in 8
accordance with section 7906(a)(2)(A)(ii), sub-9
mits notification to the agency under section 10
7906(a)(2)(B)(i) that Board is reviewing the 11
Federal funding for life sciences research under 12
section 7906(a) until the date on which the 13
Board makes a final determination with respect 14
to the proposed Federal funding. 15
‘‘(2) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraph (1) shall 16
take effect on the date that is 180 days after the 17
date of enactment of this chapter. 18
‘‘(b) H
IGH-RISKATTESTATION; SELECTAGENT OR 19
T
OXINDISCLOSURE; CERTIFICATION.— 20
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—An entity seeking Federal 21
funding from an agency for life sciences research 22
shall, under the penalty of perjury— 23
‘‘(A) attest whether— 24
‘‘(i) the life sciences research will con-25
stitute high-risk life sciences research; and 26
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•S 854 IS
‘‘(ii) the entity is performing active 1
research with a select agent or toxin; and 2
‘‘(B) if the entity makes a positive attesta-3
tion under subparagraph (A), disclose the 4
source of funding for all active research. 5
‘‘(2) A
CTIVE RESEARCH WITH SELECT AGENTS 6
OR TOXINS.— 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The head of an agen-8
cy that receives a disclosure from an entity 9
under paragraph (1)(B) shall submit to the 10
Board the disclosure. 11
‘‘(B) B
OARD INQUIRIES.—The Board may 12
contact an entity that submits a disclosure 13
under paragraph (1)(B) to request additional 14
information relating to the disclosure. 15
‘‘(3) A
GENCY CERTIFICATION.— 16
‘‘(A) P
OSITIVE ATTESTATIONS.—The head 17
of an agency making an award of Federal fund-18
ing to an entity that makes a positive attesta-19
tion under paragraph (1)(A)(i) shall— 20
‘‘(i) submit to the Board the high-risk 21
life sciences proposal; and 22
‘‘(ii) using the process established by 23
the head of the agency under paragraph 24
(4), certify the validity of the attestation. 25
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•S 854 IS
‘‘(B) NEGATIVE ATTESTATIONS .—The 1
head of an agency making an award of Federal 2
funding to an entity that makes a negative at-3
testation under paragraph (1)(A)(i) shall— 4
‘‘(i) review the attestation; and 5
‘‘(ii) using the process established by 6
the head of the agency under paragraph 7
(4), certify the validity of the attestation. 8
‘‘(4) P
ROCESS FOR REVIEW.—The head of each 9
agency that awards Federal funding for life sciences 10
research, in consultation with the Board, shall estab-11
lish and implement a process for identifying pro-12
posals from entities seeking Federal funding for life 13
sciences research from the agency that will con-14
stitute high-risk life sciences research. 15
‘‘(5) M
AINTENANCE OF RECORDS .—The head of 16
each agency shall— 17
‘‘(A) maintain records of the certification 18
process described in paragraph (3) for each ap-19
plication for Federal funding in accordance with 20
chapter 31 of title 44; and 21
‘‘(B) make the records maintained under 22
subparagraph (A) available for audit and review 23
upon request by the Board. 24
‘‘(c) N
OTIFICATION.— 25
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•S 854 IS
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days be-1
fore the date on which the head of an agency plans 2
to award Federal funding to an entity for life 3
sciences research, the head of the agency shall sub-4
mit to the Board a notification of the proposed Fed-5
eral funding. 6
‘‘(2) C
ONTENTS.—The notification of Federal 7
funding for life sciences research required under 8
paragraph (1) shall include the attestation and cer-9
tification required under subsection (b). 10
‘‘(3) B
OARD REQUESTS.— 11
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Board may re-12
quest additional information from the head of 13
an agency relating to a notification submitted 14
under paragraph (1). 15
‘‘(B) P
ROVISION OF INFORMATION .—The 16
head of an agency from which the Board re-17
quest additional information under subpara-18
graph (A) shall provide the information in a 19
timely manner. 20
‘‘(d) A
GENCYPROCEDURES.—Not later than 180 21
days after the date on which the Board publishes the proc-22
ess of the Board in the Federal Register pursuant to sec-23
tion 7904(c), the head of each agency shall publish on the 24
website of the agency prepayment and preaward proce-25
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•S 854 IS
dures of the agency with respect to Federal funding for 1
life sciences research to— 2
‘‘(1) guarantee that— 3
‘‘(A) all high-risk life science research pro-4
posals are referred to the Board before the 5
award of Federal funding by the agency; 6
‘‘(B) no Federal funding for high-risk life 7
sciences research is awarded by the agency 8
without approval by the Board; and 9
‘‘(C) not later than 30 days before the 10
date on which the head of the agency plans to 11
award the Federal funding, the agency notifies 12
the Board of the proposal for Federal funding; 13
and 14
‘‘(2) otherwise ensure compliance with this 15
chapter. 16
‘‘(e) P
ROVISION OFADDITIONALINFORMATION.— 17
Upon request by the Board, the head of an agency shall 18
provide any information relating to Federal funding 19
awards for life sciences research determined necessary by 20
the Board to provide oversight of the agency. 21
‘‘(f) C
HANGE IN CIRCUMSTANCES DURINGRE-22
SEARCH.—If, during the course of life sciences research 23
in progress performed by an entity supported by Federal 24
funding from an agency, circumstances arise such that the 25
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•S 854 IS
life sciences research in progress may constitute high-risk 1
life sciences research in contravention to the attestation 2
of the entity under subsection (b)(1)(A)(i)— 3
‘‘(1) the entity shall— 4
‘‘(A) not later than 24 hours after the 5
identification of the change in circumstance, 6
pause the life sciences research in progress; and 7
‘‘(B) not later than 5 days after the date 8
of the identification of the change in cir-9
cumstance, submit to the head of the agency a 10
written notification through an electronic or 11
nonelectronic communication method that— 12
‘‘(i) notifies the head of the agency of 13
the possibility that the life sciences re-14
search in progress may constitute high-risk 15
life sciences research; and 16
‘‘(ii) includes a detailed description of 17
each change in circumstance that may 18
transform the life sciences research in 19
progress into high-risk life sciences re-20
search; and 21
‘‘(2) the head of the agency shall— 22
‘‘(A) using the process of the agency estab-23
lished under subsection (b)(4), determine 24
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•S 854 IS
whether the life sciences research in progress 1
constitutes high-risk life sciences research; 2
‘‘(B) if the head of the agency makes a 3
negative determination under subparagraph 4
(A), inform the entity that the entity may re-5
sume the life sciences research in progress; and 6
‘‘(C) if the head of the agency makes a 7
positive determination under subparagraph (A), 8
immediately submit to the Board a notification 9
of the Federal funding of high-risk life sciences 10
research in progress for review under section 11
7906(a)(1). 12
‘‘(g) E
NFORCEMENT.— 13
‘‘(1) A
PPLICANT REQUIREMENTS .—If an entity 14
seeking or receiving Federal funding from an agency 15
knowingly fails to make a true attestation under 16
subsection (b)(1) or promptly notify the agency of a 17
change in circumstance in accordance with sub-18
section (f)(1), the head of the agency shall refer the 19
entity to the appropriate entity for suspension and 20
debarment proceedings relating to the receipt of 21
Federal funding. 22
‘‘(2) R
EFERRAL TO INSPECTOR GENERAL .—The 23
Board shall refer any employee of an agency respon-24
sible for overseeing and reviewing research proposals 25
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•S 854 IS
relating to Federal funding that knowingly fails to 1
comply with subsection (b)(3) to the inspector gen-2
eral of the agency. 3
‘‘(3) E
MPLOYEE DISCIPLINE.— 4
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The head of an agen-5
cy employing an employee who knowingly vio-6
lates any provision of subsection (b)(3) (or, in 7
the case of the head of an agency who violates 8
any provision of subsection (b)(3), the Presi-9
dent) shall impose on that employee— 10
‘‘(i) disciplinary action in accordance 11
with chapter 75 of title 5 or an equivalent 12
procedure of the agency; and 13
‘‘(ii) permanent revocation of any ap-14
plicable security clearance held by the em-15
ployee. 16
‘‘(B) C
ONTRACTOR PENALTY .—In the case 17
of contractor working under a contract with an 18
agency who knowingly violates subsection 19
(b)(1), the head of the agency shall refer the 20
contractor to the appropriate entity for suspen-21
sion and debarment proceedings relating to the 22
receipt of Federal funding. 23
‘‘(C) E
MPLOYEE DISCIPLINE REPORTS .— 24
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•S 854 IS
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1
360 days after the date of enactment of 2
this Act, and not less frequently than once 3
every 90 days thereafter, the head of each 4
agency shall submit to the Board and the 5
appropriate congressional committees a re-6
port that discloses, for the period covered 7
by the report, each violation by an em-8
ployee of the agency of subsection (b)(3). 9
‘‘(ii) C
ONTENTS.—Each report sub-10
mitted under clause (i) shall include, with 11
respect to a violation described in that 12
clause— 13
‘‘(I) the name and professional 14
title of each employee engaged in the 15
violation; 16
‘‘(II) a detailed explanation of 17
the nature of the violation; and 18
‘‘(III) the date of the violation. 19
‘‘(iii) P
UBLICATION.—Not later than 20
5 days after the date on which the Board 21
receives a report under clause (i), the 22
Board shall publish on a publicly accessible 23
and searchable website the amount of vio-24
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•S 854 IS
lations that have been committed under 1
clause (i). 2
‘‘(h) S
UBAWARD AND SUBCONTRACTOR DISCLO-3
SURE.— 4
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—During the course of high- 5
risk life sciences research in progress performed by 6
an entity supported by Federal funding from an 7
agency, the entity shall— 8
‘‘(A) continuously disclose to the head of 9
the agency any subcontracts or subawards made 10
or planned to be made with the Federal fund-11
ing; and 12
‘‘(B) obtain consent from the head of the 13
agency before awarding a subcontract or award 14
described in subparagraph (A). 15
‘‘(2) A
GENCY SUBMISSION.—Not later than 30 16
days after the date on which the head of an agency 17
receives a disclosure under paragraph (1), the head 18
of the agency shall submit to the Board the disclo-19
sure. 20
‘‘(3) B
OARD INQUIRIES.— 21
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Board may con-22
tact an entity that submits a disclosure under 23
paragraph (1) to request additional information 24
relating to the disclosure. 25
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‘‘(B) ACCESS TO REPORTS .—During the 1
course of high-risk life sciences research in 2
progress performed by an entity supported by 3
Federal funding from an agency, upon request, 4
the Board shall have access to every annual re-5
port of— 6
‘‘(i) the agency; 7
‘‘(ii) the entity performing the high- 8
risk life sciences research; and 9
‘‘(iii) any subcontractor or sub-10
awardee of an entity described in clause 11
(ii). 12
‘‘§ 7906. Board review 13
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.— 14
‘‘(1) H
IGH-RISK LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH .— 15
Not later than 120 days after the date on which the 16
Board receives a notification from an agency under 17
section 7905(c) relating to proposed Federal funding 18
for life sciences research that constitutes high-risk 19
life sciences research or the Board receives a notifi-20
cation from an agency under section 7905(f)(2)(C) 21
relating to Federal funding of research in progress 22
that constitutes high-risk life sciences research, the 23
Board shall— 24
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•S 854 IS
‘‘(A) review the proposed Federal funding 1
or high-risk life sciences research in progress; 2
‘‘(B) by a majority vote, determine wheth-3
er the agency may award the proposed Federal 4
funding or continue to award the Federal fund-5
ing for the high-risk life sciences research in 6
progress; and 7
‘‘(C) by a majority vote, determine with re-8
spect to the high-risk life sciences research 9
funded by the proposed Federal funding or 10
Federal funding for high-risk life sciences re-11
search in progress— 12
‘‘(i) the minimum required biosafety 13
containment level, engineering controls, 14
and operational controls; 15
‘‘(ii) the minimum required biosecu-16
rity engineering controls and operational 17
controls; and 18
‘‘(iii) the minimum required personnel 19
assurance controls. 20
‘‘(2) P
ROPOSED LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH .— 21
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—With respect to pro-22
posed Federal funding by an agency for life 23
sciences research, the Board may— 24
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•S 854 IS
‘‘(i) review the proposed Federal fund-1
ing; and 2
‘‘(ii) determine whether the Board 3
should review the proposed Federal fund-4
ing in accordance with paragraph (1). 5
‘‘(B) N
OTIFICATION.—If the Board makes 6
a positive determination under subparagraph 7
(A)(ii) with respect to proposed Federal funding 8
by an agency— 9
‘‘(i) the Board shall notify the head of 10
the agency; and 11
‘‘(ii) the head of the agency may not 12
award the proposed Federal funding until 13
the date on which the Board makes a final 14
determination with respect to the proposed 15
Federal funding under paragraph (1). 16
‘‘(3) P
AST FUNDING.—With respect to life 17
sciences research performed with Federal funding 18
awarded by an agency before the date of enactment 19
of this chapter, the Board may review and audit the 20
research in order to assess the compliance of the 21
agency with the provisions of this chapter. 22
‘‘(4) O
NGOING FUNDING FOR LIFE SCIENCES 23
RESEARCH.—With respect to Federal funding for 24
life sciences research in progress awarded by an 25
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•S 854 IS
agency before the date of enactment of this Act that 1
the Board determines may constitute high-risk life 2
sciences research, the Board may— 3
‘‘(A) direct the agency to temporarily sus-4
pend the Federal funding; 5
‘‘(B) require the agency to provide com-6
plete information on the Federal funding in 7
order for the Board to complete a review of the 8
life sciences research under paragraph (1); and 9
‘‘(C) by a majority vote of members of the 10
Board, determine whether the agency may con-11
tinue the Federal funding. 12
‘‘(b) C
ONSIDERATIONS.— 13
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In making a determination 14
under subsection (a)(1)(B), the Board shall con-15
sider, with respect to the high-risk life sciences re-16
search that will be conducted with the proposed Fed-17
eral funding or high-risk life sciences research in 18
progress— 19
‘‘(A) whether the research poses a threat 20
to public health; 21
‘‘(B) whether the research poses a threat 22
to public safety; 23
‘‘(C) whether the research has a high prob-24
ability of producing benefits for public health; 25
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‘‘(D) whether the research poses a threat 1
to large populations of animals and plants; 2
‘‘(E) whether the research poses a threat 3
to national security; 4
‘‘(F) whether the research is proposed to 5
be conducted in whole or at least in part in a 6
foreign country; 7
‘‘(G) the reasonably anticipated material 8
risks of the research; 9
‘‘(H) the reasonably anticipated informa-10
tion risks of the research; 11
‘‘(I) the reasonably anticipated benefits of 12
the research; 13
‘‘(J) whether the reasonably anticipated 14
benefits of the research outweigh the reasonably 15
anticipated risks; and 16
‘‘(K) whether the benefits of the research 17
could be obtained through procedures posing 18
lower risks. 19
‘‘(2) W
EIGHT OF FACTORS .—The presence or 20
absence of any factor under paragraph (1) shall not 21
be decisive with respect to the determination of the 22
Board under subsection (a)(1)(B). 23
‘‘(c) N
OTICEFOLLOWINGREVIEW ANDDETERMINA-24
TION.— 25
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‘‘(1) AGENCY NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 5 1
days after the date on which the Board makes a de-2
termination under subsection (a)(1)(B) with respect 3
to Federal funding by an agency, the Executive Di-4
rector of the Board shall notify the head of the 5
agency of the determination. 6
‘‘(2) B
OARD CONSULTATION .— 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 10 8
days after receiving a notification from the 9
Board under paragraph (1), the head of an 10
agency may request a meeting with the Board 11
to discuss the determination of the Board. 12
‘‘(B) B
OARD RESPONSE.—The Board shall 13
schedule a meeting requested by the head of an 14
agency under subparagraph (A) in a timely 15
manner. 16
‘‘(3) N
OTIFICATION TO APPROPRIATE CONGRES -17
SIONAL COMMITTEES.—If the Board determines that 18
the head of an agency may not proceed with an 19
award of proposed Federal funding under this sec-20
tion, the Executive Director of the Board shall no-21
tify the appropriate congressional committees when 22
the Board notifies the head of the agency. 23
‘‘(d) R
EQUEST FOREXPEDITEDREVIEW.— 24
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‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 1
‘emergency research’ means high-risk life sciences 2
research submitted to the Board that relates to a 3
public health emergency or addresses a specific na-4
tional security concern. 5
‘‘(2) R
EQUEST; NOTIFICATION.—The head of 6
an agency seeking expedited review from the Board 7
to award Federal funding for emergency research 8
shall— 9
‘‘(A) include a request for expedited review 10
in the notification required under section 11
7905(c); and 12
‘‘(B) on the date of the notification de-13
scribed in subparagraph (A), submit to the 14
Board and the appropriate congressional com-15
mittees a notification that explains why the spe-16
cific public health emergency or national secu-17
rity concern necessitates expedited review under 18
this subsection. 19
‘‘(3) I
NTERNAL PROCESS.—The Board shall es-20
tablish an internal process under which the Board 21
will give proposed emergency research expedited re-22
view under this section. 23
‘‘(4) T
EMPORARY EMERGENCY RESEARCH .—If 24
the Board does not notify the head of an agency 25
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with a determination under subsection (a)(1)(B) 1
with respect to proposed emergency research by the 2
15 days after the date on which the head of the 3
agency submits a request under paragraph (2)(A), 4
the head of the agency may award Federal funding 5
for the emergency research on a temporary basis. 6
‘‘(e) S
CIENTIFICEXPERTPANELS.— 7
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Board may establish a 8
scientific panel of nongovernmental experts to advise 9
the Board in the review by the Board of life sciences 10
research pursuant to this chapter. 11
‘‘(2) P
OLICIES AND PROCEDURES .—The Board 12
shall establish and publish in the Federal Register 13
procedures and policies relating to conflicts of inter-14
est, recusal, expertise, and related matters before 15
the establishment of the panel described in para-16
graph (1). 17
‘‘(3) P
ROHIBITION.—An individual serving on 18
the panel established under paragraph (1) may not 19
advise the Board on any matter with respect to 20
which the individuals has an identified or perceived 21
conflict of interest. 22
‘‘(4) R
EPORT.— 23
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 30 24
days after the date on which the Board estab-25
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lishes a panel established under paragraph (1), 1
the Board shall submit to the appropriate con-2
gressional committees a report that includes the 3
names, qualifications, and any identified or per-4
ceived conflicts of interest of individuals who 5
serve on the panel. 6
‘‘(B) P
ANEL CHANGES.—Upon a change of 7
personnel on the panel established under para-8
graph (1), the Board shall immediately submit 9
to the appropriate congressional committees an 10
update to the report required under subpara-11
graph (A). 12
‘‘(f) R
EPORT.— 13
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 360 days 14
after the date on which the Board establishes the 15
panel described in subsection (e)(1), and annually 16
thereafter, the Board shall submit to the appropriate 17
congressional committees a report, which shall in-18
clude a classified annex, summarizing, with respect 19
to each determination by the Board under this sec-20
tion relating to high-risk life sciences research— 21
‘‘(A) the findings of the Board; 22
‘‘(B) the determination of the Board; 23
‘‘(C) the name and location of the entity 24
proposing the life sciences research; 25
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‘‘(D) the name and location of any recipi-1
ent of a subaward or subcontractor of an entity 2
proposing life sciences research and the nature 3
of the participation of such a recipient or sub-4
contractor; and 5
‘‘(E) an account of significant challenges 6
or problems, including procedural or substantive 7
challenges or problems, that arise during the 8
course of the work of the Board, including the 9
views of any member of the Board who wishes 10
to have those views included in the report. 11
‘‘(2) P
UBLIC REPORT.—On the date on which 12
the Board submits a report required under para-13
graph (1), the Board shall make the report, other 14
than the classified annex included in the report, 15
available on a website. 16
‘‘(g) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—This section shall take ef-17
fect on the date that is 270 days after the date of enact-18
ment of this chapter. 19
‘‘§ 7907. GAO Audits 20
‘‘The Comptroller General of the United States shall 21
periodically audit the Board. 22
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‘‘§ 7908. Funding 1
‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to the Board 2
to carry out this chapter $30,000,000 for each of fiscal 3
years 2026 through 2035.’’. 4
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 5
for subtitle V of title 31, United States Code, is amended 6
by adding at the end the following: 7
‘‘79. Life Sciences Research Security Board .......................................... 7901’’.
(c) FINANCIALDISCLOSUREREPORTS OFBOARD 8
M
EMBERS.—Section 13103(f) of title 5, United States 9
Code, is amended— 10
(1) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 11
end; 12
(2) in paragraph (12), by striking the period at 13
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 14
(3) by adding at the end the following: 15
‘‘(13) a member of the Life Sciences Research 16
Security Board established under section 7902 of 17
title 31.’’. 18
Æ
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