Nucleic Acid Standards for Biosecurity Act

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9194 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9194

To amend the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act 
       to support nucleic acid screening, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 30, 2024

 Ms. Caraveo (for herself and Mr. McCormick) introduced the following 
   bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and 
                               Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act 
       to support nucleic acid screening, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited ``Nucleic Acid Standards for Biosecurity 
Act''.

SEC. 2. SUPPORTING NUCLEIC ACID SCREENING.

    Section 10221 of the Research and Development, Competition, and 
Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 18931; enacted as part of title II of 
division B of Public Law 117-167) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``and'' after 
                the semicolon;
                    (B) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as 
                subparagraph (E); and
                    (C) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the 
                following new subparagraph:
                    ``(D) best practices, guidelines, and technical 
                standards for risk management associated with 
                engineering biology and biomanufacturing, including 
                risks associated with the use of artificial 
                intelligence; and'';
            (2) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as subsections 
        (c) and (d), respectively; and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(b) Nucleic Acid Synthesis Screening Tools and Standards.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Director, in consultation with heads 
        of Federal agencies the Director considers appropriate, shall 
        carry out measurement research to support the development and 
        improvement of best practices and technical standards for 
        biosecurity measures related to nucleic acid synthesis, 
        including the following:
                    ``(A) Testing to improve the accuracy, efficacy, 
                and reliability of screening for nucleic acid 
                synthesis.
                    ``(B) Best practices, including security and access 
                controls, for operational security and managing 
                sequence-of-concern databases to support such 
                screening.
                    ``(C) Technical implementation guidance to ensure 
                such screening is effective and secure.
                    ``(D) Conformity-assessment best practices and 
                technical standards.
                    ``(E) Methods to evaluate the impact and 
                effectiveness of the implementation of subparagraphs 
                (A) through (D).
            ``(2) Consortium.--In carrying out this subsection, the 
        Director shall convene a consortium of stakeholders, including 
        industry, institutions of higher education, nonprofit 
        organizations, and customers to carry out this following:
                    ``(A) Develop and periodically update consensus 
                priorities and best practices, as appropriate, for 
                synthetic nucleic acid procurement screening 
                mechanisms.
                    ``(B) Develop roadmaps to inform the activities 
                carried out under paragraph (1).
            ``(3) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the first 
        meeting of the consortium under paragraph (2), the Director 
        shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
        Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Science, 
        Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives a report 
        summarizing the findings of the consortium.
            ``(4) Authorization of appropriations.--Of the funds 
        authorized to be appropriated for the National Institute of 
        Standards and Technology pursuant to this section for 
        scientific and technical research and services laboratory 
        activities, there is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 
        for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029 to carry out this 
        subsection.''.
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