[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6444 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6444

To amend the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to establish an exception 
   to jurisdictional immunity for a foreign state that discharges a 
               biological weapon, and for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 3, 2020

  Mr. Gooden introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

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                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to establish an exception 
   to jurisdictional immunity for a foreign state that discharges a 
               biological weapon, 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 ``Stop China-Originated Viral 
Infectious Diseases Act of 2020'' or the ``Stop COVID Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. EXCEPTION TO JURISDICTIONAL IMMUNITY OF A FOREIGN STATE.

    (a) Exception to Jurisdictional Immunity.--Section 1605 of title 
28, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (g) and (h) as subsections 
        (h) and (i), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (f) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(g) A foreign state shall not be immune from the jurisdiction of 
the courts of the United States in any case where such foreign state is 
found, whether intentionally or unintentionally, to have discharged a 
biological weapon, as defined in section 2280(d)(3) of title 18, United 
States Code, in the United States or such discharge results in the 
bodily injury of an United States citizen.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
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