[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4000 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4000

 To authorize States to bring civil actions against the Government of 
  the People's Republic of China for harm suffered by the State as a 
                    result of the COVID-19 pandemic.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 12, 2023

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize States to bring civil actions against the Government of 
  the People's Republic of China for harm suffered by the State as a 
                    result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    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 ``CCP Virus Reimbursement For States 
Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. CIVIL ACTION AUTHORIZED FOR STATES RELATED TO COVID-19 HARM.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law 
(including chapter 85 of title 28, United States Code, commonly 
referred to as the ``Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act'') a State may 
bring an action for damages in an appropriate district court of the 
United States against the Government of the People's Republic of China 
for harm suffered by the State as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    (b) Payment by United States.--If a State is awarded damages in an 
action under this section, and the Government of the People's Republic 
of China has not satisfied such award before the date that is one year 
after the date on which the damages were awarded, the State may seek an 
order from the court directing the United States to pay such award to 
the State. The payment by the United States of any such award shall be 
deducted from any interest or debt owed by the United States to the 
People's Republic of China, or from any amounts made available to 
provide United States assistance to the People's Republic of China.
    (c) Definition.--In this section, the term ``harm'' includes costs 
associated with--
            (1) the payment of overtime to frontline workers;
            (2) purchasing masks and sanitizing products;
            (3) purchasing vaccines;
            (4) research and development;
            (5) developing COVID-19 testing sites and testing 
        individuals for COVID-19;
            (6) purchasing medical equipment related to COVID-19;
            (7) unemployment payments; and
            (8) laws to provide other assistance during the COVID-19 
        pandemic.
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