Senator Jim Holzapfel and Assemblymen Greg McGuckin and John Catalano (all R-10) have introduced a concurrent resolution urging the President and Congress to enact federal legislation allowing U.S. citizens and local governments to sue China for their mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The legislators have released a statement urging the support of Congressman Chris Smith’s legislation, HR 6524, which declares that the Chinese government should be held accountable for the global health crisis and the resulting economic fallout resulting from COVID-19.

“It is no secret that Chinese leaders initially did little to stop the spread of COVID-19, allowing thousands of people to travel in and out of the country who had been exposed to this deadly virus.  In addition, their intentional misleading of the severity of the virus and lack of communication to the World Health Organization resulted in what is now a global pandemic, the death of hundreds of thousands of people, and an economic crisis that will take years to recover from.

“We support Congressman Chris Smith’s legislation which allows U.S. citizens and local governments to sue the government of China and hold it accountable for the deaths that resulted from COVID-19, along with the economic crisis that shut down global markets and thousands of businesses in the United States.  Our delegation is in support of this federal legislation and hopes to see our residents and local governments recover some of what they have lost due to the negligence of the Chinese government.

“Our county has learned some valuable lessons as a result of the coronavirus and we hope to see us come back stronger than ever.”