Texas bill would ban gain-of-function research, fine violators, require leak mitigation plans

As state and federal institutions balk at the release of documents that could unveil a fuller picture of gain-of-function research preceding the emergence of COVID-19, a conservative Texas lawmaker is going on the offensive against such research in the Lone Star State.

Republican Sen. Bob Hall introduced legislation (SB 1583) that would prevent Texas institutions of higher education or those funded by taxpayers from conducting GoF research on "potentially pandemic pathogens" (PPP) or funding entities that do so. State funds would be revoked for violation.

Such research "is happening in our own backyard and I have heard there may be a direct connection with Wuhan and the COVID-19 virus," Hall said in a press release Monday, also citing "a concern that these viruses can also be mutated to create biological weapons."

Hall pointed to a recent Government Accountability Office report that found the security guidelines applied to GoF research, following a three-year pause that ended in 2017, didn't go far enough.