Washington Bill Authorizes $6 Billion Biosecurity Funding Program—Bird Flu Explicitly Named as Target Threat
Allows grant and review records to be shielded from public disclosure, raising transparency concerns.
Washington lawmakers on Tuesday introduced legislation authorizing $6 billion in taxpayer-backed funding to build a permanent state-run biosecurity and infectious disease response infrastructure, establishing a new government institute with the power to finance outbreak detection programs, biological countermeasure development, and pathogen response operations—including those targeting highly pathogenic avian influenza “bird flu.”
The move comes as bird flu programs and the countermeasures designed to address them are being built out in parallel across state, federal, and international systems.
House Bill 2739 creates the Washington Institute for Scientific Advancement, a new state entity that did not previously exist in Washington law, and empowers it to distribute billions in public funds to universities, private companies, and other organizations carrying out infectious disease programs, biological product development, and emerging threat response activities.
The program would be financed through massive new taxpayer-backed bond issuance. The legislation states:
“The state finance committee may issue general obligation bonds of the state of Washington in the sum of $6,000,000,000, or so much thereof as may be required, solely for the purpose of providing funds to advance scientific research…”
Because these are general obligation bonds, repayment is guaranteed by the state’s full financial backing, meaning taxpayers ultimately bear responsibility for the debt.
You can see which representatives are sponsoring the bill here.