IB 

Union Calendar No. 119 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1422 

[Report No. 113–165] 

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 

JULY 22, 2013 

Additional sponsors: Mr. DAINES, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. 

BARTON, Mr. PRICE of Georgia, Mr. STOCKMAN, Mr. WESTMORELAND, 

Mrs. BACHMANN, Mr. KLINE, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. 

CRAMER, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. BROUN of Georgia, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, and Mrs. HARTZLER

JULY 22, 2013 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 9, 2013] 


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•HR 1422 RH

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. 


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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 Environmental 

8 Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization 

9 Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 4365(b)) is amended to read as fol10 lows: 

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 in consultation with the Administrator. 

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 Board 

18 under this section. The Administrator shall select Board 

19 members from nominations received as described in para20 graph (3) and shall ensure that— 

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

22 represented on and the functions to be performed by 

23 the Board are fairly balanced among the members of 

24 the Board; 


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

2 the Board are from State, local, or tribal govern3 ments; 

4 ‘‘(C) persons with substantial and relevant ex5 pertise are not excluded from the Board due to affili6 ation with or representation of entities that may have 

7 a potential interest in the Board’s advisory activities, 

8 so long as that interest is fully disclosed to the Ad9 ministrator and the public and appointment to the 

10 Board complies with section 208 of title 18, United 

11 States Code; 

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

13 a particular matter involving a specific party, no 

14 Board member having an interest in the specific 

15 party shall participate in that activity; 

16 ‘‘(E) Board members may not participate in ad17 visory activities that directly or indirectly involve re18 view and evaluation of their own work; 

19 ‘‘(F) Board members shall be designated as spe20 cial Government employees; and 

21 ‘‘(G) no federally registered lobbyist is appointed 

22 to the Board. 

23 ‘‘(3) The Administrator shall— 

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

25 publishing a notification in the Federal Register; 


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1 ‘‘(B) solicit nominations from relevant Federal 

2 agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture, 

3 Defense, Energy, and Health and Human Services; 

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

5 the identity of the entities that nominated them, and 

6 shall accept public comment on the nominees; 

7 ‘‘(D) require that, upon their provisional nomi8 nation, nominees shall file a written report disclosing 

9 financial relationships and interests, including Envi10 ronmental Protection Agency grants, contracts, coop11 erative agreements, or other financial assistance, that 

12 are relevant to the Board’s advisory activities for the 

13 three-year period prior to the date of their nomina14 tion, and relevant professional activities and public 

15 statements for the five-year period prior to the date 

16 of their nomination; and 

17 ‘‘(E) make such reports public, with the excep18 tion of specific dollar amounts, for each member of 

19 the Board upon such member’s selection. 

20 ‘‘(4) Disclosure of relevant professional activities 

21 under paragraph (3)(D) shall include all representational 

22 work, expert testimony, and contract work as well as identi23 fying the party for which the work was done. 

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

25 Agency shall make all conflict of interest waivers granted 


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1 to members of the Board, member committees, or investiga2 tive panels publicly available. 

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

4 Board, a member committee, or an investigative panel, or 

5 any recusal known to the Agency that occurs during the 

6 course of a meeting or other work of the Board, member 

7 committee, or investigative panel shall promptly be made 

8 public by the Administrator. 

9 ‘‘(7) The terms of the members of the Board shall be 

10 three years and shall be staggered so that the terms of no 

11 more than one-third of the total membership of the Board 

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

13 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’’; and 

21 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

22 (A) by inserting ‘‘risk or hazard assess23 ment,’’ after ‘‘the scientific and technical basis of 

24 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: ‘‘These member 

12 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 (g) 

23 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 activ7 ity. 

8 ‘‘(3) Prior to convening a member committee or inves9 tigative panel under subsection (e) or requesting scientific 

10 advice from the Board, the Administrator shall accept, con11 sider, and address public comments on questions to be asked 

12 of the Board. The Board, member committees, and inves13 tigative panels shall accept, consider, and address public 

14 comments on such questions and shall not accept a question 

15 that unduly narrows the scope of an advisory activity. 

16 ‘‘(4) The Administrator and the Board shall encourage 

17 public comments, including oral comments and discussion 

18 during the proceedings, that shall not be limited by an in19 sufficient or arbitrary time restriction. Public comments 

20 shall be provided to the Board when received. The Board’s 

21 reports shall include written responses to significant com22 ments offered by members of the public to the Board. 

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

24 given 15 calendar days to provide additional comments for 

25 consideration by the Board.’’. 


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

2 4365) is further amended by adding after subsection (h), 

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

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 com7 pelled to offer policy advice, shall explicitly distinguish be8 tween scientific determinations and policy advice. 

9 ‘‘(2) The Board shall clearly communicate uncertain10 ties associated with the scientific advice provided to the Ad11 ministrator. 

12 ‘‘(3) The Board shall ensure that advice and comments 

13 reflect the views of the members and shall encourage dis14 senting members to make their views known to the public 

15 and the Administrator. 

16 ‘‘(4) The Board shall conduct periodic reviews to en17 sure that its advisory activities are addressing the most im18 portant scientific issues affecting the Environmental Pro19 tection Agency.’’. 

20 SEC. 3. RELATION TO THE FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE 

21 ACT. 

22 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

23 Act shall be construed as supplanting the requirements of 

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


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

2 1978. 

3 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

4 Act shall be construed as supplanting the requirements of 

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


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Union Calendar No. 119 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1422 

[Report No. 113–165] 

A BILL 

To amend the Environmental Research, Developfor other purposes. member qualifications, public participation, and 1978 to provide for Scientific Advisory Board ment, and Demonstration Authorization Act of 

JULY 22, 2013 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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