I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1717 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish a National Bio 

and Agro-defense Facility. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 27, 2007 

Mr. MCCAUL of Texas (for himself, Mr. PICKERING, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. 

THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. ETHERIDGE, and Ms. JACKSON-LEE of 

Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Homeland Security, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture 

and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish 

a National Bio and Agro-defense Facility. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. NATIONAL BIO AND AGRO-DEFENSE FACILITY. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Homeland Secu5 rity Act of 2002 (6. U.S.C. 181 et seq.) is amended by 

6 adding at the end the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 316. NATIONAL BIO AND AGRO-DEFENSE FACILITY. 

2 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is in the Department 

3 a National Bio and Agro-defense Facility (referred to in 

4 this section as the ‘NBAF’), which shall be headed by a 

5 Director who shall be appointed by the Secretary. 

6 ‘‘(b) PURPOSES.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The NBAF shall be an in8 tegrated human, foreign-animal, and zoonotic dis9 ease research, development, testing, and evaluation 

10 facility with the purpose of supporting the com11 plementary missions of the Department, the Depart12 ment of Agriculture, and the Department of Health 

13 and Human Services in defending against the threat 

14 of potential acts of agroterrorism and natural-occur15 ring incidents related to agriculture with the poten16 tial to adversely impact public health, animal health, 

17 and the economy, or may otherwise impact homeland 

18 security. 

19 ‘‘(2) KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION AND SHAR20 ING.—The NBAF shall produce and share knowl21 edge and technology for the purpose of reducing eco22 nomic losses caused by foreign-animal, zoonotic, and, 

23 as appropriate, other endemic animal diseases of 

24 livestock and poultry and preventing human suf25 fering and death caused by diseases existing or 

26 emerging in the agricultural sector. 


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1 ‘‘(c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF DIRECTOR.—The Sec2 retary shall vest in the Director primary responsibility for 

3 each of the following: 

4 ‘‘(1) Directing basic, applied, and advanced re5 search, development, testing, and evaluation relating 

6 to foreign-animal, zoonotic, and, as appropriate, 

7 other endemic animal diseases, including foot and 

8 mouth disease, and performing related activities, in9 cluding— 

10 ‘‘(A) developing countermeasures for for11 eign-animal, zoonotic, and, as appropriate, 

12 other endemic animal diseases, including 

13 diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics; 

14 ‘‘(B) providing advanced test and evalua15 tion capability for threat detection, vulner16 ability, and countermeasure assessment for for17 eign-animal, zoonotic, and, as appropriate, 

18 other endemic animal diseases; 

19 ‘‘(C) conducting nonclinical, animal model 

20 testing and evaluation under the Food and 

21 Drug Administration’s Animal Rule as defined 

22 in parts 314 and 601 of title 22, Code of Fed23 eral Regulations, to support the development of 

24 human medical countermeasures by the DepartVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:28 Mar 30, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1717.IH H1717

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1 ment of Human Services under the Public 

2 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq); 

3 ‘‘(D) establishing NBAF information-shar4 ing mechanisms to share information with rel5 evant stakeholders, including the National Ani6 mal Health Laboratory Network; and 

7 ‘‘(E) identifying and promoting uniform 

8 national standards for animal disease 

9 diagnostics. 

10 ‘‘(2) Facilitating the coordination of Federal, 

11 State, and local governmental research and develop12 ment efforts and resources relating to protecting 

13 public health and animal health from foreign-animal, 

14 zoonotic, and, as appropriate, other endemic animal 

15 diseases. 

16 ‘‘(3) Ensuring public safety during an emer17 gency by developing an emergency response plan 

18 under which emergency response providers in the 

19 community are sufficiently prepared or trained to re20 spond effectively and given sufficient notice to allow 

21 for an effective response. 

22 ‘‘(4) Ensuring NBAF site and facility security. 

23 ‘‘(5) Providing training to develop skilled re24 search and technical staff with the needed expertise 


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1 in operations conducted at biological and agricul2 tural research facilities. 

3 ‘‘(6) Leveraging the expertise of academic insti4 tutions, industry, the Department of Energy Na5 tional Laboratories, State and local governmental re6 sources, and professional organizations involved in 

7 veterinary, medical and public health, and agri8 culture issues to carry out functions describes in (1) 

9 and (2). 

10 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary, in designing 

11 and constructing the NBAF, shall ensure that the facility 

12 meets the following requirements: 

13 ‘‘(1) The NBAF shall consist of state-of-the-art 

14 biocontainment laboratories capable of performing 

15 research and activities at Biosafety Level 3 and 4, 

16 as designated by the Centers for Disease Control 

17 and Prevention and the National Institutes of 

18 Health. 

19 ‘‘(2) The NBAF facility shall be located on a 

20 site of at least 30 acres that can be readily secured 

21 by physical measure. 

22 ‘‘(3) The NBAF facility shall be at least 

23 500,000 square feet with a capacity of housing a 

24 minimum of 80 large animals for research, testing 

25 and evaluation. 


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1 ‘‘(4) The NBAF shall be located at a site with 

2 a preexisting utility infrastructure, or a utility infra3 structure that can be easily built. 

4 ‘‘(5) The NBAF shall be located at a site that 

5 has been subject to an Environmental Impact State6 ment under the National Environmental Policy Act 

7 of 1969. 

8 ‘‘(6) The NBAF shall be located within a rea9 sonable proximity to a national or regional airport 

10 and to major roadways. 

11 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION TO PROCURE REAL PROPERTY

12 AND ACCEPT IN KIND DONATIONS FOR THE NBAF 

13 SITE.—The Secretary may accept and use donations of 

14 real property for the NBAF site and may accept and use 

15 in-kind donations of real property, personal property, lab16 oratory and office space, utility services, and infrastruc17 ture upgrades for the purpose of assisting the Director 

18 in carrying out the responsibilities of the Director under 

19 this section. 

20 ‘‘(f) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER LAWS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) PUBLIC BUILDINGS ACT.—The NBAF 

22 shall not be considered a ‘‘public building’’ for pur23 poses of the Public Buildings Act of 1959 (40 

24 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.). 


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1 ‘‘(2) LIVE VIRUS OF FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE

2 RESEARCH.—The Secretary shall enable the study of 

3 live virus of foot and mouth disease at the NBAF, 

4 wherever it is sited, notwithstanding section 113a of 

5 title 21, United States Code. 

6 ‘‘(g) COORDINATION.— 

7 ‘‘(1) INTERAGENCY AGREEMENTS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

9 enter into understandings or agreements with 

10 the heads of appropriate Federal departments 

11 and agencies, including the Secretary of Agri12 culture and the Secretary of Health and 

13 Human Services, to define the respective roles 

14 and responsibilities of each Department in car15 rying out foreign-animal, zoonotic, and other 

16 endemic animal disease research and develop17 ment at the NBAF to protect public health and 

18 animal health. 

19 ‘‘(B) DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.— 

20 The understanding or agreement entered into 

21 with the Secretary of Agriculture shall include 

22 a provision describing research programs and 

23 functions of the Department of Agriculture and 

24 the Department of Homeland Security, includ25 ing those research programs and functions carVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:28 Mar 30, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1717.IH H1717

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1 ried out at the Plum Island Animal Disease 

2 Center and those research programs and func3 tions that will be transferred to the NBAF. 

4 ‘‘(C) DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

5 HUMAN SERVICES.—The understanding or 

6 agreement entered into with the Department of 

7 Health and Human Services shall describe re8 search programs of the Department of Health 

9 and Human Services that may relate to work 

10 conducted at NBAF. 

11 ‘‘(2) COOPERATIVE RELATIONSHIPS.—The Di12 rector shall form cooperative relationships with the 

13 National Animal Health Laboratory Network and 

14 American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Di15 agnosticians to connect with the network of Federal 

16 and State resources intended to enable an inte17 grated, rapid, and sufficient response to animal 

18 health emergencies.’’. 

19 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

20 in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by adding at the 

21 end of the items relating to title III the following: 

‘‘Sec. 316. National Bio and Agro-defense Facility.’’. 

Æ 


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