I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1422 

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 

APRIL 9, 2013 

Mr. STEWART (for himself, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. HALL, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. HARRIS, and Mr. BENISHEK) 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 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD. 

7 (a) MEMBERSHIP.—Section 8(b) of the Environ8 mental Research, Development, and Demonstration Aumstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 thorization Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 4365(b)) is amended 

2 to read as follows: 

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

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

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

6 by the Chairman in consultation with the Administrator. 

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

8 education, training, and experience to evaluate scientific 

9 and technical information on matters referred to the 

10 Board under this section. The Administrator shall select 

11 Board members from nominations received as described 

12 in paragraph (3) and shall ensure that— 

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

14 represented on and the functions to be performed by 

15 the Board are fairly balanced among the members of 

16 the Board; 

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

18 the Board are from State, local, or tribal govern19 ments; 

20 ‘‘(C) persons with substantial and relevant ex21 pertise are not excluded from the Board due to af22 filiation with or representation of entities that may 

23 have a potential interest in the Board’s advisory ac24 tivities, so long as that interest is fully disclosed to 

25 the Administrator and the public and appointment 

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

2 United States Code; 

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

4 a particular matter involving a specific party, no 

5 Board member having an interest in the specific 

6 party shall participate in that activity; 

7 ‘‘(E) Board members may not participate in ad8 visory activities that directly or indirectly involve re9 view and evaluation of their own work; and 

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

11 special Government employees. 

12 ‘‘(3) The Administrator shall— 

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

14 publishing a notification in the Federal Register; 

15 ‘‘(B) solicit nominations from relevant Federal 

16 agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture, 

17 Defense, Energy, and Health and Human Services; 

18 ‘‘(C) make public the list of nominees, including 

19 the identity of the entities that nominated them, and 

20 shall accept public comment on the nominees; 

21 ‘‘(D) require that, upon their provisional nomi22 nation, nominees shall file a written report disclosing 

23 financial relationships and interests, including Envi24 ronmental Protection Agency grants, contracts, co25 operative agreements, or other financial assistance, 

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1 that are relevant to the Board’s advisory activities 

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

3 nomination, and relevant professional activities and 

4 public statements for the five-year period prior to 

5 the date of their nomination; and 

6 ‘‘(E) make such reports public, with the excep7 tion of specific dollar amounts, for each member of 

8 the Board upon such member’s selection. 

9 ‘‘(4) The terms of the members of the Board shall 

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

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

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

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

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

15 4365(c)) is amended— 

16 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

17 (A) by inserting ‘‘risk or hazard assess18 ment,’’ after ‘‘at the time any proposed’’; and 

19 (B) by inserting ‘‘risk or hazard assess20 ment,’’ after ‘‘to the Board such proposed’’; 

21 and 

22 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

23 (A) by inserting ‘‘risk or hazard assess24 ment,’’ after ‘‘the scientific and technical basis 

25 of the proposed’’; and 

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

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

3 dissenting views of Board members, and the re4 sponse of the Administrator shall be included in 

5 the record with respect to any proposed risk or 

6 hazard assessment, criteria document, standard, 

7 limitation, or regulation and published in the 

8 Federal Register.’’. 

9 (c) MEMBER COMMITTEES AND INVESTIGATIVE PAN10 ELS.—Section 8(e) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 4365(e)) is 

11 amended by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘These member committees and investigative panels— 

13 ‘‘(1) shall be constituted and operate in accord14 ance with the provisions set forth in paragraphs (2) 

15 and (3) of subsection (b), in subsection (h), and in 

16 subsection (i); 

17 ‘‘(2) do not have authority to make decisions on 

18 behalf of the Board; and 

19 ‘‘(3) may not report directly to the Environ20 mental Protection Agency.’’. 

21 (d) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—Section 8 of such Act 

22 (42 U.S.C. 4365) is amended by adding after subsection 

23 (g) the following: 

24 ‘‘(h)(1) To facilitate public participation in the advi25 sory activities of the Board, the Administrator and the 

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1 Board shall make public all reports and relevant scientific 

2 information and shall provide materials to the public at 

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

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

5 Board shall hold a public information-gathering session to 

6 discuss the state of the science related to the advisory ac7 tivity. 

8 ‘‘(3) Prior to convening a member committee or in9 vestigative panel under subsection (e) or requesting sci10 entific advice from the Board, the Administrator shall ac11 cept, consider, and address public comments on questions 

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

13 and investigative panels shall accept, consider, and ad14 dress public comments on such questions and shall not ac15 cept a question that unduly narrows the scope of an advi16 sory activity. 

17 ‘‘(4) The Administrator and the Board shall encour18 age public comments, including oral comments and discus19 sion during the proceedings, that shall not be limited by 

20 an insufficient or arbitrary time restriction. Public com21 ments shall be provided to the Board when received. The 

22 Board’s reports shall include written responses to signifi23 cant comments offered by members of the public to the 

24 Board. 

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

2 given 15 calendar days to provide additional comments for 

3 consideration by the Board.’’. 

4 (e) OPERATIONS.—Section 8 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

5 4365) is further amended by adding after subsection (h), 

6 as added by subsection (d) of this section, the following: 

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

8 Board shall strive to avoid making policy determinations 

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

10 compelled to offer policy advice, shall explicitly distinguish 

11 between scientific determinations and policy advice. 

12 ‘‘(2) The Board shall clearly communicate uncertain13 ties associated with the scientific advice provided to the 

14 Administrator. 

15 ‘‘(3) The Board shall ensure that advice and com16 ments reflect the views of the members and shall encour17 age dissenting members to make their views known to the 

18 public and the Administrator. 

19 ‘‘(4) The Board shall conduct periodic reviews to en20 sure that its advisory activities are addressing the most 

21 important scientific issues affecting the Environmental 

22 Protection Agency.’’. 

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