[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3592 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3592

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 4, 2020

 Mrs. Blackburn (for herself, Ms. McSally, and Mr. Daines) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and 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) In General.--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:
    ``(g)(1) 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 alleged, whether intentionally or unintentionally, to have 
discharged a biological agent, as defined in section 178 of title 18, 
and such discharge results in the bodily injury, death, or damage to 
property of a national of the United States.
    ``(2) Notwithstanding section 2337(2) of title 18, a national of 
the United States may bring a claim for money damages against a foreign 
state in accordance with section 2333 of title 18 if the foreign state 
would not be immune under this subsection.''.
    (b) Applicability.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to the discharge of a biological agent that occurred before, on, 
or after the date of enactment of this Act.
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