Li Wenliang Global Public Health Accountability Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1987 To authorize the imposition of sanctions with respect to the deliberate conceal- ment or distortion of information about public health emergencies of international concern, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 9, 2021 Mr. COTTON (for himself, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. DAINES, Mrs. BLACKBURN, and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Li Wenliang Global 4 Public Health Accountability Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President may impose the 7 sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect to any 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1987.IS S1987 TKELLEY on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1987 IS foreign person the President determines, based on credible 1 evidence— 2 (1) is a government official, or a senior asso- 3 ciate of such an official, that is responsible for, or 4 complicit in, ordering, controlling, or otherwise di- 5 recting, or financially benefits from, acts intended to 6 deliberately conceal or distort information about a 7 public health emergency of international concern, in- 8 cluding coronavirus disease 2019 (commonly known 9 as ‘‘COVID–19’’); or 10 (2) has materially assisted, sponsored, or pro- 11 vided financial, material, or technological support 12 for, or goods or services in support of, an act de- 13 scribed in paragraph (1). 14 (b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions de- 15 scribed in this subsection are the following: 16 (1) INADMISSIBILITY TO UNITED STATES.—In 17 the case of a foreign person who is an individual— 18 (A) ineligibility to receive a visa to enter 19 the United States or to be admitted to the 20 United States; or 21 (B) if the individual has been issued a visa 22 or other documentation, revocation, in accord- 23 ance with section 221(i) of the Immigration and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1987.IS S1987 TKELLEY on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1987 IS Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)), of the visa 1 or other documentation. 2 (2) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.— 3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The blocking, in ac- 4 cordance with the International Emergency 5 Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), 6 of all transactions in all property and interests 7 in property of a foreign person if such property 8 and interests in property are in the United 9 States, come within the United States, or are or 10 come within the possession or control of a 11 United States person. 12 (B) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTA- 13 TION OF GOODS.— 14 (i) IN GENERAL.—The authority to 15 block and prohibit all transactions in all 16 property and interests in property under 17 subparagraph (A) shall not include the au- 18 thority to impose sanctions on the importa- 19 tion of goods. 20 (ii) GOOD DEFINED.—In this subpara- 21 graph, the term ‘‘good’’ means any article, 22 natural or manmade substance, material, 23 supply, or manufactured product, including 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1987.IS S1987 TKELLEY on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1987 IS inspection and test equipment, and exclud- 1 ing technical data. 2 (c) CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION IN 3 IMPOSING SANCTIONS.—In determining whether to im- 4 pose sanctions under subsection (a), the President shall 5 consider— 6 (1) information provided jointly by the chair- 7 person and ranking member of each of the appro- 8 priate congressional committees; and 9 (2) credible information obtained by other coun- 10 tries and nongovernmental organizations that mon- 11 itor violations of human rights and global health 12 issues, including issues related to infectious disease. 13 (d) REQUESTS BY APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL 14 COMMITTEES.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 16 after receiving a request that meets the require- 17 ments of paragraph (2) with respect to whether a 18 foreign person is described in subsection (a), the 19 President shall— 20 (A) determine if that person is so de- 21 scribed; and 22 (B) submit a classified or unclassified re- 23 port to the chairperson and ranking member of 24 the committee or committees that submitted the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1987.IS S1987 TKELLEY on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1987 IS request with respect to that determination that 1 includes— 2 (i) a statement of whether or not the 3 President imposed or intends to impose 4 sanctions with respect to the person; and 5 (ii) if the President imposed or in- 6 tends to impose sanctions, a description of 7 those sanctions. 8 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—A request under para- 9 graph (1) with respect to whether a foreign person 10 is described in subsection (a) shall be submitted to 11 the President in writing jointly by the chairperson 12 and ranking member of one of the appropriate con- 13 gressional committees. 14 (e) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH UNITED NATIONS 15 HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT AND LAW ENFORCEMENT 16 OBJECTIVES.—Sanctions under subsection (b)(1) shall 17 not apply to an individual if admitting the individual into 18 the United States— 19 (1) would further important law enforcement 20 objectives; or 21 (2) is necessary to permit the United States to 22 comply with the Agreement regarding the Head- 23 quarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Suc- 24 cess June 26, 1947, and entered into force Novem- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1987.IS S1987 TKELLEY on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1987 IS ber 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the 1 United States, or other applicable international obli- 2 gations of the United States. 3 (f) ENFORCEMENT OF BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.— 4 A person that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to 5 violate, or causes a violation of subsection (b)(2) or any 6 regulation, license, or order issued to carry out that sub- 7 section shall be subject to the penalties set forth in sub- 8 sections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International 9 Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the 10 same extent as a person that commits an unlawful act de- 11 scribed in subsection (a) of that section. 12 (g) REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later than 120 days 13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 14 thereafter, the President shall submit to the appropriate 15 congressional committees a report that includes— 16 (1) a list of each foreign person with respect to 17 which the President imposed sanctions under sub- 18 section (b) during the year preceding the submission 19 of the report; 20 (2) a description of the type of sanctions im- 21 posed with respect to each such person; 22 (3) the number of foreign persons with respect 23 to which the President— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1987.IS S1987 TKELLEY on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1987 IS (A) imposed sanctions under subsection (b) 1 during that year; or 2 (B) terminated sanctions under subsection 3 (h) during that year; 4 (4) the dates on which such sanctions were im- 5 posed or terminated, as the case may be; 6 (5) the reasons for imposing or terminating 7 such sanctions; and 8 (6) a description of the efforts of the President 9 to encourage the governments of other countries to 10 impose sanctions that are similar to the sanctions 11 authorized by this section. 12 (h) TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS.—The President 13 may terminate the application of sanctions under this sec- 14 tion with respect to a person if the President determines 15 and reports to the appropriate congressional committees 16 not later than 15 days before the termination of the sanc- 17 tions that— 18 (1) credible information exists that the person 19 did not engage in the activity for which sanctions 20 were imposed; 21 (2) the person has been prosecuted appro- 22 priately for the activity for which sanctions were im- 23 posed; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1987.IS S1987 TKELLEY on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1987 IS (3) the termination of the sanctions is in the 1 national security interests of the United States. 2 (i) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The President shall 3 issue such regulations, licenses, and orders as are nec- 4 essary to carry out this section. 5 (j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 7 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 8 mittees’’ means— 9 (A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 10 and Urban Affairs and the Committee on For- 11 eign Relations of the Senate; and 12 (B) the Committee on Financial Services 13 and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 14 House of Representatives. 15 (2) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per- 16 son’’ means a person that is not a United States 17 person. 18 (3) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in- 19 dividual or entity. 20 (4) PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY OF INTER- 21 NATIONAL CONCERN.—The term ‘‘public health 22 emergency of international concern’’ means a public 23 health emergency determined to be a public health 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1987.IS S1987 TKELLEY on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1987 IS emergency of international concern by the World 1 Health Organization. 2 (5) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 3 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 4 (A) an individual who is a United States 5 citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for perma- 6 nent residence to the United States; 7 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 8 the United States or any jurisdiction within the 9 United States, including a foreign branch of 10 such an entity; or 11 (C) any person in the United States. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1987.IS S1987 TKELLEY on DSK125TN23PROD with BILLS