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

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3029 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3029

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 28, 2025

 Ms. Salinas (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 the 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 2026 through 2030 to carry out this
        subsection.''.
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