H.R. 5747 — Preventing Illegal Laboratories and Protecting Public Health Act of 2025

This section establishes a program under which the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, requires covered distributors of highly pathogenic agents to maintain electronic logbooks recording sales, leases, loans, and other transfers, including specified details such as agent name, purchaser identifying information and intended use, date and method of transfer, and purchaser signature. The Secretary must develop an initial list of such agents within six months of enactment, review and update it annually after consulting relevant agencies (e.g., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Homeland Security), and considering specified biosafety guidelines; for sales, distributors must verify purchaser identification via government-issued photo ID or equivalent and ensure logbook accuracy prior to transfer, include notice of criminal penalties under 18 U.S.C. 1001 (false statements) specifying maximum fine and imprisonment of up to five years (or eight years if involving terrorism or specified sex offenses), retain entries for at least three years (with successors assuming responsibility), limit disclosure to authorized government purposes (i.e., compliance, public health and safety, national security), and exempt logbooks from FOIA. This section deems logbook entries a matter within the jurisdiction of the U.S. government for purposes of 18 U.S.C. 1001.

This section directs the National Security Advisor, in consultation with specified federal officials, to identify a single federal entity to oversee periodic strategic evaluations of high-containment laboratories (i.e., biosafety level 3 or higher, as defined in the latest edition of *Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories* published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health). The evaluations must assess (1) the number, location, and mission of such laboratories; (2) their capacity to meet national biosafety and biosecurity goals; (3) physical security measures; (4) aggregate risks from existing and expanded laboratories; and (5) needed oversight. The entity must also develop national standards for the design, construction, commissioning, operation, and maintenance of such laboratories, in consultation with the scientific community and considering applicable regulations. Upon completion, the entity must report evaluation results and recommendations on oversight gaps and laboratory utilization for public health, biosafety, and biosecurity to the President and Congress. This section further requires the entity to establish, within one year, the Public Health Biosafety and Biosecurity Team as a single federal point of contact for state, local, Tribal, and territorial agencies on high-containment laboratory oversight, public health impacts, and related agency connections. Additionally, the entity must conduct a feasibility study on a database of such laboratories—including owner identity, address, licensing status, violations, and other biosafety-relevant information—and report study results to Congress.