COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023
Public Law 118–2
COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023
2
118–2
Statute Compilation
United States House of Representatives
Office of the Legislative Counsel
text/xml
EN
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2023-04-14
COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023
17468
118
2023-03-20
COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023
[(Public Law 118–2)]
[This law has not been amended]
[Currency: This publication is a compilation of the text of Public Law 118–2. It was last amended by the public law listed in the As Amended Through note above and below at the bottom of each page of the pdf version and reflects current law through the date of the enactment of the public law listed at https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/comps/]
[Note: While this publication does not represent an official version of any Federal statute, substantial efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of its contents. The official version of Federal law is found in the United States Statutes at Large and in the United States Code. The legal effect to be given to the Statutes at Large and the United States Code is established by statute (1 U.S.C. 112, 204).]

AN ACT
To require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information relating to the origin of COVID-19, 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.
[50 U.S.C. 3161 note]

SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023”.
SEC. 2.

SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that—
(1)
identifying the origin of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is critical for preventing a similar pandemic from occurring in the future;
(2)
there is reason to believe the COVID-19 pandemic may have originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology; and
(3)
the Director of National Intelligence should declassify and make available to the public as much information as possible about the origin of COVID-19 so the United States and like-minded countries can—
(A)
identify the origin of COVID-19 as expeditiously as possible, and
(B)
use that information to take all appropriate measures to prevent a similar pandemic from occurring again.
SEC. 3.

DECLASSIFICATION OF INFORMATION RELATED TO THE ORIGIN OF COVID-19.
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of National Intelligence shall—
(1)
declassify any and all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), including—
(A)
activities performed by the Wuhan Institute of Virology with or on behalf of the People’s Liberation Army;
(B)
coronavirus research or other related activities performed at the Wuhan Institute of Virology prior to the outbreak of COVID-19; and
(C)
researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology who fell ill in autumn 2019, including for any such researcher—
(i)
the researcher’s name;
(ii)
the researcher’s symptoms;
(iii)
the date of the onset of the researcher’s symptoms;
(iv)
the researcher’s role at the Wuhan Institute of Virology;
(v)
whether the researcher was involved with or exposed to coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology;
(vi)
whether the researcher visited a hospital while they were ill; and
(vii)
a description of any other actions taken by the researcher that may suggest they were experiencing a serious illness at the time; and
(2)
submit to Congress an unclassified report that contains—
(A)
all of the information described under paragraph (1); and
(B)
only such redactions as the Director determines necessary to protect sources and methods.