Title: Li Wenliang Global Public Health Accountability Act of 2020
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Li Wenliang Global Public Health Accountability Act of 2020
This bill authorizes the President to impose property- and visa-blocking sanctions on foreign individuals and entities involved in deliberate acts to conceal or distort information about a public health emergency of international concern, including COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019).
Specifically, the President may impose sanctions on (1) a government official (or a senior associate of such an official) who is responsible for or complicit in deliberate acts to conceal or distort information about an international public health emergency, or who financially benefits from such acts; or (2) a foreign person or entity that has materially assisted or supported such acts.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7733 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7733

To authorize the imposition of sanctions with respect to the deliberate 
     concealment or distortion of information about public health 
     emergencies of international concern, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 23, 2020

  Mr. Curtis introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the 
 Judiciary, 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 authorize the imposition of sanctions with respect to the deliberate 
     concealment or distortion of information about public health 
     emergencies of international concern, 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 as the ``Li Wenliang Global Public Health 
Accountability Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) On January 3, 2020, the leading public health authority 
        in the People's Republic of China, the National Health 
        Commission, directed all Chinese research institutions to cease 
        publicly publishing any information related to a then unknown 
        SARS-like virus, and ordered them to destroy existing samples 
        of the virus or transfer them to approved testing sites.
            (2) On December 30, 2019, Dr. Li Wenliang warned his 
        medical school classmates of an outbreak of an unknown SARS-
        like virus over WeChat.
            (3) On January 3, 2020, Wuhan's Public Security Bureau 
        detained, questioned, and forced Dr. Li Wenliang and seven 
        other doctors to sign a letter confessing he had made ``false 
        comments'' that ``severely disturbed the social order''.
            (4) On February 7, 2020, one month after checking into 
        Wuhan Central Hospital, Dr. Li Wenliang died of a severe case 
        of coronavirus disease 2019 (commonly known as ``COVID-19'').
            (5) China's National Health Commission publicly denied 
        COVID-19 was person-to-person transmissible until January 15, 
        2020, despite having uncovered contrary evidence in late 
        December 2019 and being alerted of the transmissibility of 
        COVID-19 on January 1, 2020.
            (6) China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Zhao Lijian, 
        claimed that COVID-19 originated in the United States and that 
        the United States Army brought the virus to Wuhan to wage 
        biological warfare on China.
            (7) Other Chinese Government officials, including 
        scientists working on China's COVID-19 response, China's 
        Ambassador to South Africa and China's Ambassador to Australia 
        have claimed that there is no evidence that COVID-19 originated 
        in China.
            (8) A study by the University of Southampton found that had 
        China taken action 3 weeks earlier, the spread of COVID-19 
        could have been reduced by 95 percent.
            (9) On July 21, 2020, Representative Adam Smith defended 
        the Chinese Government's hiding the true nature of COVID-19 
        when he said, ``It's not actually their job to warn the 
        American people''.
            (10) According to the World Health Organization's for the 
        Use of Annex 2 of the International Health Regulations, China 
        was legally obligated to notify the World Health Organization 
        about the COVID-19 outbreak.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.

    (a) In General.--The President may impose the sanctions described 
in subsection (b) with respect to any foreign person the President 
determines, based on credible evidence--
            (1) is a government official, or a senior associate of such 
        an official, that is responsible for, or complicit in, 
        ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, or financially 
        benefits from, acts intended to deliberately conceal or distort 
        information, including through forced detentions or 
        disappearances of persons, about a public health emergency of 
        international concern, including COVID-19; or
            (2) has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided 
        financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or 
        services in support of, an act described in paragraph (1).
    (b) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions described in this 
subsection are the following:
            (1) Inadmissibility to united states.--In the case of a 
        foreign person who is an individual--
                    (A) ineligibility to receive a visa to enter the 
                United States or to be admitted to the United States; 
                or
                    (B) if the individual has been issued a visa or 
                other documentation, revocation, in accordance with 
                section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
                (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)), of the visa or other documentation.
            (2) Blocking of property.--
                    (A) In general.--The blocking, in accordance with 
                the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 
                U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), of all transactions in all 
                property and interests in property of a foreign person 
                if such property and interests in property are in the 
                United States, come within the United States, or are or 
                come within the possession or control of a United 
                States person.
                    (B) Exception relating to importation of goods.--
                            (i) In general.--The authority to block and 
                        prohibit all transactions in all property and 
                        interests in property under subparagraph (A) 
                        shall not include the authority to impose 
                        sanctions on the importation of goods.
                            (ii) Good defined.--In this subparagraph, 
                        the term ``good'' means any article, natural or 
                        manmade substance, material, supply, or 
                        manufactured product, including inspection and 
                        test equipment, and excluding technical data.
    (c) Requests by Appropriate Congressional Committees.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 120 days after receiving a 
        request that meets the requirements of paragraph (2) with 
        respect to whether a foreign person is described in subsection 
        (a), the President shall--
                    (A) determine if that person is so described; and
                    (B) submit a classified or unclassified report to 
                the chairperson and ranking member of the committee or 
                committees that submitted the request with respect to 
                that determination that includes--
                            (i) a statement of whether or not the 
                        President imposed or intends to impose 
                        sanctions with respect to the person; and
                            (ii) if the President imposed or intends to 
                        impose sanctions, a description of those 
                        sanctions.
            (2) Requirements.--A request under paragraph (1) with 
        respect to whether a foreign person is described in subsection 
        (a) shall be submitted to the President in writing jointly by 
        the chairperson and ranking member of one of the appropriate 
        congressional committees.
    (d) Exception To Comply With United Nations Headquarters Agreement 
and Law Enforcement Objectives.--Sanctions under subsection (b)(1) 
shall not apply to an individual if admitting the individual into the 
United States--
            (1) would further important law enforcement objectives; or
            (2) is necessary to permit the United States to comply with 
        the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, 
        signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force 
        November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United 
        States, or other applicable international obligations of the 
        United States.
    (e) Exception To Comply With National Security.--The following 
activities shall be exempt from sanctions under this section:
            (1) Activities subject to the reporting requirements under 
        title V of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et 
        seq.).
            (2) Any authorized intelligence or law enforcement 
        activities of the United States.
    (f) Enforcement of Blocking of Property.--A person that violates, 
attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of 
subsection (b)(2) or any regulation, license, or order issued to carry 
out that subsection shall be subject to the penalties set forth in 
subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency 
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a person 
that commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) of that 
section.
    (g) Reports Required.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the President shall 
submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that 
includes--
            (1) a list of each foreign person with respect to which the 
        President imposed sanctions under subsection (b) during the 
        year preceding the submission of the report;
            (2) a description of the type of sanctions imposed with 
        respect to each such person;
            (3) the number of foreign persons with respect to which the 
        President--
                    (A) imposed sanctions under subsection (b) during 
                that year; or
                    (B) terminated sanctions under subsection (h) 
                during that year;
            (4) the dates on which such sanctions were imposed or 
        terminated, as the case may be;
            (5) the reasons for imposing or terminating such sanctions; 
        and
            (6) a description of the efforts of the President to 
        encourage the governments of other countries to impose 
        sanctions that are similar to the sanctions authorized by this 
        section.
    (h) Termination of Sanctions.--The President may terminate the 
application of sanctions under this section with respect to a person if 
the President determines and reports to the appropriate congressional 
committees not later than 15 days before the termination of the 
sanctions that--
            (1) credible information exists that the person did not 
        engage in the activity for which sanctions were imposed;
            (2) the person has been prosecuted appropriately for the 
        activity for which sanctions were imposed;
            (3) the forced detention or disappearance of the individual 
        or individuals for whom the sanctions have been imposed are no 
        longer missing or detained;
            (4) the person has provided material information that--
                    (A) leads to the location or liberation of the 
                missing or detained individual or individuals in 
                question; or
                    (B) leads to the arrest or prosecution of others 
                responsible for such acts described in subsection (a); 
                or
            (5) the termination of the sanctions is in the national 
        security interests of the United States.
    (i) Regulatory Authority.--The President shall issue such 
regulations, licenses, and orders as are necessary to carry out this 
section.
    (j) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
                Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
                Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Financial Services and the 
                Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
                Representatives.
            (2) Foreign person.--The term ``foreign person'' means a 
        person that is not a United States person.
            (3) Person.--The term ``person'' means an individual or 
        entity.
            (4) Public health emergency of international concern.--The 
        term ``public health emergency of international concern'' means 
        a public health emergency determined to be a public health 
        emergency of international concern by the World Health 
        Organization.
            (5) United states person.--The term ``United States 
        person'' means--
                    (A) an individual who is a United States citizen or 
                an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence to 
                the United States; or
                    (B) an entity organized under the laws of the 
                United States or any jurisdiction within the United 
                States, including a foreign branch of such an entity.
    (k) Sunset.--This Act shall terminate on the date that is 10 years 
after the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>