I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6399 
To direct that certain assessments with respect to toxicity of chemicals be 
carried out by the program offices of the Environmental Protection 
Agency, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 17, 2018 
Mr. BIGGS (for himself, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. 
ROHRABACHER, Mr. POSEY, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. BABIN, Mr. HIG-
GINS of Louisiana, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. HULTGREN, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. 
WEBSTER of Florida, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. DUNN, Mr. WESTERMAN, and 
Mr. MOOLENAAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To direct that certain assessments with respect to toxicity 
of chemicals be carried out by the program offices of 
the Environmental Protection Agency, and for other pur-
poses. 
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 ‘‘Chemical Assessment 
Improvement Act’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:08 Jul 20, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6399.IH
H6399
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
SEC. 2. HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND DOSE RESPONSE AS-
SESSMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date of the en-
actment of this Act, any covered assessments carried out 
with respect to a chemical substance through the Inte-
grated Risk Information System program of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency as of the day before such date 
of enactment shall, in lieu of being carried out through 
such program, be carried out by the relevant program of-
fice of the Environmental Protection Agency, so long as 
the relevant program office determines there is a need for 
such an assessment. Such an assessment shall be carried 
out using scientific standards specified in section 4 and 
be based on the weight of the scientific evidence. 
(b) TOXICITY VALUES.—In carrying out such an as-
sessment with respect to a chemical substance under sub-
section (a), the relevant program office shall assign a tox-
icity value or values, when scientifically supported by the 
available data, for such chemical substance. With respect 
to that assignment, the following shall apply: 
(1) When supported by the available data, the 
toxicity value or values shall include a range of point 
estimates of risk as well as sources and magnitudes 
of uncertainty associated with the estimates. 
(2) When multiple point estimates can be devel-
oped, the relevant program office shall— 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:08 Jul 20, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6399.IH
H6399
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
(A) consider all datasets; and 
(B) make a determination about how best 
to represent the human health risk posed by the 
chemical substance involved. 
(c) CHEMICAL ASSESSMENT DATABASE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—A toxicity value or values as-
signed to a chemical substance under subsection (b) 
shall be included in a chemical assessment database 
to be maintained by the Office of Research and De-
velopment of the Environmental Protection Agency. 
(2) COMPLETED
ASSESSMENTS.—All covered 
assessments stored, as of the date of the enactment 
of this Act, in the IRIS database of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency shall be retained in the 
chemical assessment database established pursuant 
to paragraph (1). 
(3) UPDATES.—Such database shall be updated 
pursuant to a covered assessment performed by a 
relevant program office, including to make a change 
in the existing toxicity value or values for a chemical 
substance included in such database. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) The term ‘‘covered assessment’’ means, with 
respect to the evaluation of the human health effects 
resulting from chronic exposure to a chemical sub-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:08 Jul 20, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6399.IH
H6399
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
stance, a chemical hazard identification and dose re-
sponse assessment (as such terms are defined by the 
Environmental Protection Agency on the day before 
the date of the enactment of this Act). 
(2) The term ‘‘relevant program office’’ in-
cludes the following offices of the Environmental 
Protection Agency: 
(A) The Office of Water. 
(B) The Office of Air and Radiation. 
(C) The Office of Land and Emergency 
Management. 
(D) The Office of Chemical Safety and 
Pollution Prevention. 
(E) Any successor to an office specified in 
subparagraphs (A) through (D) and any other 
office determined to be relevant by the Adminis-
trator of the Environmental Protection Agency. 
SEC. 3. HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND DOSE RESPONSE 
STEERING COMMITTEE. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator 
of the Environmental Protection Agency (referred to in 
this Act as the ‘‘Administrator’’) shall establish a chemical 
hazard identification and dose response steering com-
mittee (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘steering com-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:08 Jul 20, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6399.IH
H6399
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
mittee’’) to coordinate the conduct of covered assessments 
by relevant program offices for purposes of ensuring that, 
with respect to such assessments, there is no duplication 
of effort by such offices. 
(b) DUTY.—The duties of the steering committee are 
the following: 
(1) If the steering committee learns that more 
than one relevant program office intends to conduct 
covered assessments with respect to the same chem-
ical substance, the steering committee shall deter-
mine the most effective means of carrying out a sin-
gle covered assessment to prevent duplication of ef-
fort by such offices. 
(2) For purposes of supplementing a covered 
assessment, the steering committee shall consider 
any third-party assessment of a chemical substance 
generated by another Federal, State, or inter-
national agency or agencies or members of the sci-
entific community that meets the requirements spec-
ified in subsection (e). 
(c) CHAIR; COMPOSITION.— 
(1) CHAIR.—The steering committee shall be 
chaired by the Assistant Administrator of the Office 
of Research and Development of the Environmental 
Protection Agency. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:08 Jul 20, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6399.IH
H6399
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
(2) COMPOSITION.—The steering committee 
shall be composed of 15 members, all of whom shall 
be active, full-time employees of the Environmental 
Protection Agency, with at least one member rep-
resenting each relevant program office and each re-
gional office of the Environmental Protection Agen-
cy. The members of the steering committee shall be 
appointed by the Administrator of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency. Any vacancy shall be 
filled in the same manner as the initial appointment. 
(d) MEETINGS.—The steering committee shall meet 
at least once each calendar year. 
(e) THIRD-PARTY ASSESSMENT REQUIREMENTS.— 
The requirements specified in this subsection with respect 
to a third-party assessment of a chemical substance are 
that the assessment— 
(1) is conducted using scientific standards spec-
ified in section 4; 
(2) has undergone independent scientific review 
for transparency, completeness, and quality; and 
(3) reflects the best available science and the 
weight of the available scientific evidence. 
SEC. 4. SCIENTIFIC STANDARDS. 
Covered assessments carried out under section 2 and 
discussion of such assessments and review of third-party 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:08 Jul 20, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6399.IH
H6399
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
assessments carried out under section 3, shall be con-
ducted using scientific information, technical procedures, 
measures, methods, protocols, methodologies, or models in 
a manner consistent with the best available science. In car-
rying out such an assessment, the relevant program office 
shall integrate all lines of scientific evidence and consider, 
as applicable— 
(1) the extent to which the scientific informa-
tion, technical procedures, measures, methods, proto-
cols, methodologies, or models employed to generate 
the scientific information are reasonable for and con-
sistent with the intended use of the scientific infor-
mation; 
(2) the extent to which the scientific informa-
tion is relevant for the relevant program office’s use 
in making a decision about a chemical substance; 
(3) the degree of clarity and completeness with 
which the data, assumptions, methods, quality assur-
ance, analyses employed to generate the scientific in-
formation are documented and publicly available in 
a manner that honors legal and ethical obligations to 
reduce the risks of unauthorized disclosure and re- 
identification; 
(4) the extent to which the variability and un-
certainty in the scientific information, or in the pro-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:08 Jul 20, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6399.IH
H6399
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
cedures, measures, methods, protocols, methodolo-
gies, or models, are evaluated and characterized; 
(5) the extent of independent verification or 
peer review of the scientific information or of the 
procedures, measures, methods, protocols, meth-
odologies, or models; 
(6) the ability of the scientific findings and re-
search to be replicated or reproduced; and 
(7) the extent to which the available scientific 
information supports dose-response modeling, using 
non-linear approaches. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:08 Jul 20, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H6399.IH
H6399
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS