I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5355 
To amend the America COMPETES Act to prevent political interference 
in the communication of scientific research, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 6, 2019 
Mr. NEGUSE (for himself, Ms. BONAMICI, and Mr. CASTEN of Illinois) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, 
Space, and Technology 
A BILL 
To amend the America COMPETES Act to prevent political 
interference in the communication of scientific research, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Climate Censor-
ship Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. PREVENTION OF POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN THE 
COMMUNICATION OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 
Title I of the America COMPETES Act is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 1010. PREVENTION OF POLITICAL INTERFERENCE. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this section, the Director of 
the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall develop 
and issue policies, consistent with established scientific in-
tegrity policies, that require political appointees of each 
Federal civilian agency that conducts scientific research 
to publicly report on any action by such political ap-
pointee— 
‘‘(1) to modify any scientific research or find-
ings that are used to inform any agency communica-
tion to the public relating to climate change; or 
‘‘(2) to modify any agency communication to 
the public in a manner inconsistent with scientific 
research or findings relating to climate change. 
‘‘(b) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report required 
under subsection (a) shall— 
‘‘(1) specify the specific individuals who were 
involved in the decision to take such action; 
‘‘(2) describe the scientific evidence used to jus-
tify such decision; 
‘‘(3) specify any other agency or individual con-
sulted with respect to such decision; and 
‘‘(4) be provided by such political appointee to 
the appropriate committees of jurisdiction in Con-
gress for the respective agencies. 
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‘‘(c) REVIEW OF POLICIES.—The Director of the Of-
fice of Science and Technology Policy shall review and up-
date as necessary the policies described in this section on 
a biennial basis. 
‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) POLITICAL APPOINTEE.—The term ‘polit-
ical appointee’ means a Federal employee who 
holds— 
‘‘(A) a position which has been excepted 
from the competitive service by reason of its 
confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, 
or policy-advocating character; or 
‘‘(B) a position in the Senior Executive 
Service as a noncareer appointee (as such term 
is defined in section 3132(a) of title 5, United 
States Code). 
‘‘(2) CLIMATE
CHANGE.—The term ‘climate 
change’ means any change in the state of the global 
climate that can be identified by changes in the 
mean or the variability of its properties, and that 
persists for an extended period, typically decades or 
longer.’’. 
Æ 
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