I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1431 

To amend the Environmental Research, Development, and Demonstration 

Authorization Act of 1978 to provide for Scientific Advisory Board member qualifications, public participation, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 8, 2017 

Mr. LUCAS (for himself, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. 

BANKS of Indiana, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. POSEY, Mr. BROOKS of Alabama, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. BABIN, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Mr. 

HULTGREN, Mr. BRIDENSTINE, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. DUNN, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. 

CHAFFETZ, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. PALAZZO, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. 

BARTON, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. TIPTON, and 

Mr. GOODLATTE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

A BILL 

To amend the Environmental Research, Development, and 

Demonstration Authorization Act of 1978 to provide for 

Scientific Advisory Board member qualifications, public 

participation, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘EPA Science Advisory 

5 Board Reform Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD. 

2 (a) INDEPENDENT ADVICE.—Section 8(a) of the En3 vironmental Research, Development, and Demonstration 

4 Authorization Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 4365(a)) is amend5 ed by inserting ‘‘independently’’ after ‘‘Advisory Board 

6 which shall’’. 

7 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—Section 8(b) of the Environ8 mental Research, Development, and Demonstration Au9 thorization Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 4365(b)) is amended 

10 to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘(b)(1) The Board shall be composed of at least nine 

12 members, one of whom shall be designated Chairman, and 

13 shall meet at such times and places as may be designated 

14 by the Chairman. 

15 ‘‘(2) Each member of the Board shall be qualified by 

16 education, training, and experience to evaluate scientific 

17 and technical information on matters referred to the 

18 Board under this section. The Administrator shall ensure 

19 that— 

20 ‘‘(A) the scientific and technical points of view 

21 represented on and the functions to be performed by 

22 the Board are fairly balanced among the members of 

23 the Board; 

24 ‘‘(B) at least ten percent of the membership of 

25 the Board are from State, local, or tribal govern26 ments; 


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1 ‘‘(C) persons with substantial and relevant ex2 pertise are not excluded from the Board due to af3 filiation with or representation of entities that may 

4 have a potential interest in the Board’s advisory ac5 tivities, so long as that interest is fully disclosed to 

6 the Administrator and the public and appointment 

7 to the Board complies with section 208 of title 18, 

8 United States Code; 

9 ‘‘(D) in the case of a Board advisory activity on 

10 a particular matter involving, or for which the Board 

11 has evidence that it may involve, a specific party, no 

12 Board member having an interest in the specific 

13 party shall participate in that activity; 

14 ‘‘(E) Board members may not participate in ad15 visory activities that directly or indirectly involve re16 view or evaluation of their own work, unless fully 

17 disclosed to the public and the work has been exter18 nally peer-reviewed; 

19 ‘‘(F) Board members shall be designated as 

20 special Government employees; 

21 ‘‘(G) no registered lobbyist is appointed to the 

22 Board; and 

23 ‘‘(H) a Board member shall have no current 

24 grants or contracts from the Environmental Protec25 tion Agency and shall not apply for a grant or conVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Mar 08, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1431.IH H1431

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1 tract for 3 years following the end of that member’s 

2 service on the Board. 

3 ‘‘(3) The Administrator shall— 

4 ‘‘(A) solicit public nominations for the Board by 

5 publishing a notification in the Federal Register; 

6 ‘‘(B) solicit nominations from relevant Federal 

7 agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture, 

8 Defense, Energy, the Interior, and Health and 

9 Human Services; 

10 ‘‘(C) solicit nominations from— 

11 ‘‘(i) institutions of higher education (as de12 fined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education 

13 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))); and 

14 ‘‘(ii) scientific and research institutions 

15 based in work relevant to that of the Board; 

16 ‘‘(D) make public the list of nominees, includ17 ing the identity of the entities that nominated each, 

18 and shall accept public comment on the nominees; 

19 ‘‘(E) require that, upon their provisional nomi20 nation, nominees shall file a written report disclosing 

21 financial relationships and interests, including Envi22 ronmental Protection Agency grants, contracts, co23 operative agreements, or other financial assistance, 

24 that are relevant to the Board’s advisory activities 

25 for the three-year period prior to the date of their 


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1 nomination, and relevant professional activities and 

2 public statements for the five-year period prior to 

3 the date of their nomination; and 

4 ‘‘(F) make such reports public, with the excep5 tion of specific dollar amounts, for each member of 

6 the Board upon such member’s selection. 

7 ‘‘(4) Disclosure of relevant professional activities 

8 under paragraph (3)(E) shall include all representational 

9 work, expert testimony, and contract work as well as iden10 tifying the party for which the work was done. 

11 ‘‘(5) Except when specifically prohibited by law, the 

12 Agency shall make all conflict of interest waivers granted 

13 to members of the Board, member committees, or inves14 tigative panels publicly available. 

15 ‘‘(6) Any recusal agreement made by a member of 

16 the Board, a member committee, or an investigative panel, 

17 or any recusal known to the Agency that occurs during 

18 the course of a meeting or other work of the Board, mem19 ber committee, or investigative panel shall promptly be 

20 made public by the Administrator. 

21 ‘‘(7) The terms of the members of the Board shall 

22 be three years and shall be staggered so that the terms 

23 of no more than one-third of the total membership of the 

24 Board shall expire within a single fiscal year. No member 

25 shall serve more than two terms over a ten-year period.’’. 


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1 (c) RECORD.—Section 8(c) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

2 4365(c)) is amended— 

3 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

4 (A) by inserting ‘‘or draft risk or hazard 

5 assessment,’’ after ‘‘at the time any proposed’’; 

6 (B) by striking ‘‘formal’’; and 

7 (C) by inserting ‘‘or draft risk or hazard 

8 assessment,’’ after ‘‘to the Board such pro9 posed’’; and 

10 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

11 (A) by inserting ‘‘or draft risk or hazard 

12 assessment,’’ after ‘‘the scientific and technical 

13 basis of the proposed’’; and 

14 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘The Board’s advice and comments, including 

16 dissenting views of Board members, and the re17 sponse of the Administrator shall be included in 

18 the record with respect to any proposed risk or 

19 hazard assessment, criteria document, standard, 

20 limitation, or regulation and published in the 

21 Federal Register.’’. 

22 (d) MEMBER COMMITTEES AND INVESTIGATIVE PAN23 ELS.—Section 8(e)(1)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

24 4365(e)(1)(A)) is amended by adding at the end the folVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Mar 08, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1431.IH H1431

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1 lowing: ‘‘These member committees and investigative pan2 els— 

3 ‘‘(i) shall be constituted and operate 

4 in accordance with the provisions set forth 

5 in paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection 

6 (b), in subsection (h), and in subsection 

7 (i); 

8 ‘‘(ii) do not have authority to make 

9 decisions on behalf of the Board; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) may not report directly to the 

11 Environmental Protection Agency.’’. 

12 (e) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—Section 8 of such Act 

13 (42 U.S.C. 4365) is amended by amending subsection (h) 

14 to read as follows: 

15 ‘‘(h)(1) To facilitate public participation in the advi16 sory activities of the Board, the Administrator and the 

17 Board shall make public all reports and relevant scientific 

18 information and shall provide materials to the public at 

19 the same time as received by members of the Board. 

20 ‘‘(2) Prior to conducting major advisory activities, the 

21 Board shall hold a public information-gathering session to 

22 discuss the state of the science related to the advisory ac23 tivity. 

24 ‘‘(3) Prior to convening a member committee or in25 vestigative panel under subsection (e) or requesting sciVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Mar 08, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1431.IH H1431

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1 entific advice from the Board, the Administrator shall ac2 cept, consider, and address public comments on questions 

3 to be asked of the Board. The Board, member committees, 

4 and investigative panels shall accept, consider, and ad5 dress public comments on such questions and shall not ac6 cept a question that unduly narrows the scope of an advi7 sory activity. 

8 ‘‘(4) The Administrator and the Board shall encour9 age public comments, including oral comments and discus10 sion during the proceedings, that shall not be limited by 

11 an insufficient or arbitrary time restriction. Public com12 ments shall be provided to the Board when received, and 

13 shall be published in the Federal Register grouped by com14 mon themes. If multiple repetitious comments are re15 ceived, only one such comment shall be published along 

16 with the number of such repetitious comments received. 

17 Any report made public by the Board shall include written 

18 responses to significant comments, including those that 

19 present an alternative hypothesis-based scientific point of 

20 view, offered by members of the public to the Board. 

21 ‘‘(5) Following Board meetings, the public shall be 

22 given 15 calendar days to provide additional comments for 

23 consideration by the Board.’’. 


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1 (f) OPERATIONS.—Section 8 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

2 4365) is further amended by amending subsection (i) to 

3 read as follows: 

4 ‘‘(i)(1) In carrying out its advisory activities, the 

5 Board shall strive to avoid making policy determinations 

6 or recommendations, and, in the event the Board feels 

7 compelled to offer policy advice, shall explicitly distinguish 

8 between scientific determinations and policy advice. 

9 ‘‘(2) The Board shall clearly communicate uncertain10 ties associated with the scientific advice provided to the 

11 Administrator or Congress. 

12 ‘‘(3) The Board shall ensure that advice and com13 ments reflect the views of the members and shall encour14 age dissenting members to make their views known to the 

15 public, the Administrator, and Congress. 

16 ‘‘(4) The Board shall conduct periodic reviews to en17 sure that its advisory activities are addressing the most 

18 important scientific issues affecting the Environmental 

19 Protection Agency. 

20 ‘‘(5) The Board shall be fully and timely responsive 

21 to Congress.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. RELATION TO THE FEDERAL ADVISORY COM2 MITTEE ACT. 

3 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

4 Act shall be construed as supplanting the requirements of 

5 the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.). 

6 SEC. 4. RELATION TO THE ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT ACT OF 

7 1978. 

8 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

9 Act shall be construed as supplanting the requirements of 

10 the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.). 

Æ 


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