IB
Union Calendar No. 148
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3016
[Report No. 107–231, Part I]
To amend the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 with
respect to the responsibilities of the Secretary of Health and Human
Services regarding biological agents and toxins, and to amend title 18,
United States Code, with respect to such agents and toxins, to clarify
the application of cable television system privacy requirements to new
cable services, to strengthen security at certain nuclear facilities, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 3, 2001
Mr. TAUZIN (for himself and Mr. DINGELL) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in
addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
OCTOBER 9, 2001
Reported from the Committee on Energy and Commerce with an amendment
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
OCTOBER 9, 2001
Referral to the Committee on the Judiciary extended for a period ending not
later than October 12, 2001
OCTOBER 12, 2001
Referral to the Committee on the Judiciary extended for a period not later
than October 16, 2001
OCTOBER 16, 2001
The Committee on the Judiciary discharged; committed to the Committee of
the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on October 3, 2001]
A BILL
To amend the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty
Act of 1996 with respect to the responsibilities of the
Secretary of Health and Human Services regarding bio-
logical agents and toxins, and to amend title 18, United
States Code, with respect to such agents and toxins,
to clarify the application of cable television system pri-
vacy requirements to new cable services, to strengthen
security at certain nuclear facilities, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
TITLE I—BIOTERRORISM
PREVENTION
SEC. 101. EXPANSION OF BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS STATUTE.
(a) SELECT AGENTS.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Section 175 of title 18,
United States Code, is amended—
(A) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub-
section (c); and
(B) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-
lowing subsection:
‘‘(b) SELECT AGENTS.—
‘‘(1) UNSAFE HANDLING.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Whoever possesses, uses,
or exercises control over a select agent in a man-
ner constituting reckless disregard for the public
health and safety, knowing the select agent to be
a biological agent or toxin, shall be fined under
this title, imprisoned for not more than one year,
or both.
‘‘(B) AGGRAVATED OFFENSE.—Whoever, in
the course of a violation of subparagraph (A),
causes bodily injury to another shall be fined
under this title, or imprisoned for not more than
10 years, or both; except that if death results
from such violation, the person committing the
violation shall be fined under this title, or im-
prisoned for any term of years or for life, or
both.
‘‘(2) UNREGISTERED FOR POSSESSION.—Whoever
knowingly possesses a biological agent or toxin where
such agent or toxin is a select agent for which such
person has not obtained a registration under section
511(f) of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Pen-
alty Act of 1996 shall be fined under this title, or im-
prisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.
‘‘(3) TRANSFER TO UNREGISTERED PERSON.—
Whoever knowingly transfers a select agent to a per-
son who has not obtained a registration under section
511(e) of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Pen-
alty Act of 1996 shall be fined under this title, or im-
prisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.
‘‘(4) RESTRICTED PERSONS.—Whoever is a re-
stricted person and knowingly ships or transports a
select agent in interstate or foreign commerce, or
knowingly receives a select agent so shipped or trans-
ported, or knowingly possesses a select agent in or af-
fecting interstate or foreign commerce, shall be fined
under this title, or imprisoned for not more than 5
years, or both. The preceding sentence does not apply
with respect to any duly authorized governmental ac-
tivity under title V of the National Security Act of
1947.’’.
(2) DEFINITIONS.—Section 175 of title 18,
United States Code, as amended by paragraph (1) of
this subsection, is amended by amending subsection
(c) to read as follows:
‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
‘‘(1) The terms ‘biological agent’ and ‘toxin’ have
the meanings given such terms in section 178, except
that, for purposes of subsection (b), such terms do not
encompass any biological agent or toxin that is in its
naturally occurring environment, if the biological
agent or toxin has not been cultivated, cultured, col-
lected, or otherwise extracted from its natural source.
‘‘(2) The term ‘bodily injury’ has the meaning
given such term in section 1365.
‘‘(3) The term ‘for use as a weapon’ includes the
development, production, transfer, acquisition, reten-
tion, or possession of any biological agent, toxin, or
delivery system, other than for prophylactic, protec-
tive, or other peaceful purposes.
‘‘(4)(A) The term ‘restricted person’ means a
person—
‘‘(i) who is described in section 922(g), as
such section was in effect on the day before the
effective date of this paragraph; or
‘‘(ii) who is an alien, other than an alien
lawfully admitted for permanent residence or an
alien who under subparagraph (B) is considered
not to be a restricted person.
‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A)(ii):
‘‘(i) An alien is considered not to be a re-
stricted person if the alien is within a category
designated under clause (ii) of this subpara-
graph.
‘‘(ii) The Secretary of Health and Human
Services, in consultation with the Attorney Gen-
eral, may designate categories of individuals who
have—
‘‘(I) nonimmigrant visas as defined in
section 101(a)(26) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act; and
‘‘(II) expertise valuable to the United
States regarding select agents.
‘‘(5) The term ‘select agent’ means a biological
agent or toxin, as defined in paragraph (1), that—
‘‘(A) is on the list that is in effect pursuant
to section 511(d)(1) of the Antiterrorism and Ef-
fective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (Public Law
104–132); and
‘‘(B) has not been exempted from the appli-
cability of regulations under section 511(e) of
such Act.’’.
(3) EFFECTIVE
DATE
REGARDING
RESTRICTED
PERSONS; REGULATIONS.—
(A) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 175(b)(4) of
title 18, United States Code, as added by sub-
section (a)(1)(B) of this section, takes effect upon
the expiration of the 90-day period beginning on
the date of the enactment of this Act.
(B) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 30 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the