(3) 
ENVIRONMENTAL
PERFORMANCE
INDI-
CATOR.—The term ‘‘environmental performance in-
dicator’’ means a quantitative measure designed to
provide data on the quality of the environment over
time, including measures of:
(A) ambient concentrations of pollutants in
air, water, or land;
(B) releases or discharges of pollutants to
air, water, or land from individual sources, cat-
egories of sources, geographic areas or industry
sectors;
(C) the viability of ecosystems and the
health of ecologically important microbe, plant,
or animal populations in ecosystems;
(D) the impact of the environment or envi-
ronmental programs on human health; and
(E) resource utilization per unit of output
including energy efficiency.
(4) INNOVATIVE STRATEGY AGREEMENT.—The
term ‘‘innovative strategy agreement’’ means an
agreement entered into pursuant to title II of this
Act that allows flexibility in meeting environmental
standards in return for greater transparency and ac-
countability.
(5) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in-
dividual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corpora-
tion (including a government corporation), partner-
ship, or association.
(6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes the
several States, the District of Columbia, Guam, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mar-
iana Islands, the Virgin Islands, and America
Samoa.
TITLE I—INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT
SEC. 101. CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER.
The Administrator shall designate a Chief Informa-
tion Officer for the Agency at the level of an Assistant
Administrator. The Administrator may create an addi-
tional Assistant Administrator for such purposes or add
to the portfolio of any existing Assistant Administrator.
The Chief Information Officer shall be responsible for car-
rying out the authorities and responsibilities of the Admin-
istrator under this title.
SEC. 102. ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS.
(a) PRELIMINARY REPORT.—The Administrator, in
consultation with the States and other interested parties,
shall prepare a report proposing a set of national environ-
mental performance indicators designed for the following
purposes:
(1) Focusing Agency resources on the most
critical environmental problems.
(2) Informing the public of progress toward
meeting environmental goals.
(3) Evaluating the success of innovative envi-
ronmental strategies, including those conducted pur-
suant to title II of this Act.
The report shall identify which indicators will be based
on data the Agency will collect itself, which will be based
on data collected by the States directly and which will be
based on data reported to the States, the Agency, or other
governmental entities. The report shall be submitted to the
Congress and published in the Federal Register within 1
year after the date of enactment of this Act.
(b) NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.—The Ad-
ministrator shall contract with the National Academy of
Sciences to provide recommendations regarding which in-
dicators should be included in the report under subsection
(a). The Academy shall provide its recommendations no
later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.
The Academy report shall identify both indicators that are
currently feasible and those that are not feasible without
additional scientific research or development of tech-
nologies. For those that are not yet feasible, the report
shall identify the necessary additional research or develop-
ment and the likely time needed to conduct such research
and development.
(c) FINAL REPORT.—Within 2 years after the date
of enactment of this Act, and after consultation with
States, other Federal agencies, the private sector, and
public interest groups, the Administrator shall publish in
the Federal Register a final description of the environ-
mental indicators to be used for the purposes specified in
subsection (a).
(d) ANNUAL REPORT.—Beginning with the first Jan-
uary 31 after the publication of the report required by
subsection (c) and at least annually thereafter, the Admin-
istrator shall issue a State of the Environment Report pre-
senting and analyzing the measured levels of each environ-
mental indicator described in the report required by sub-
section (c). The Administrator shall submit the report to
Congress and shall make the report available to the public
in print and electronic form.
(e) CHANGES IN INDICATORS.—After publication of
the first report required by subsection (c), the Adminis-
trator may modify, add or eliminate indicators after pub-
lishing a notice in the Federal Register and allowing at
least 90 days for comment.
SEC. 103. RESTRUCTURING OF ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT-
ING.
(a) PLAN.—Within 2 years after the date of enact-
ment of this Act, after consultation with the States, other
Federal agencies, and other interested parties, the Admin-
istrator shall submit to the Congress, and publish in the
Federal Register for comment, a unified plan for all of
the Environmental Protection Agency’s information activi-
ties. The plan shall be designed to provide a scientifically
and technically sound foundation for the Agency’s pro-
grams and to facilitate the development of a performance-
based system of environmental protection and of innova-
tive strategy agreements pursuant to title II of this Act.
The plan shall take full advantage of the capabilities of
available and reasonably anticipated information tech-
nologies. The Administrator shall also consult with the
Agency’s Small Business Ombudsman to ensure that the
plan addresses the needs of small businesses.
(b) CONTENT.—The plan shall—
(1) streamline reporting and recordkeeping re-
quirements by eliminating any redundant or unnec-
essary requirements and by adding any requirements
needed to fill data gaps, including those that impede
the development or compilation of environmental
performance indicators required by section 102;
(2) establish standard data formats to maxi-
mize the ability to manage and exchange information
between and among public and private entities and
the public;
(3) establish procedures to assure data quality,
timeliness, and accuracy, including the detection and
correction of errors both prior to and following pub-
lic dissemination;
(4) establish a system for indexing, locating,
and obtaining the information the Agency has so the
public can retrieve it sorted by industrial sector,
company, facility, geography, type of emission and
level of environmental performance;
(5) ensure that the public has easy access to
Agency information on any regulated entity along
with background to help the public make sense of
the information;
(6) seek to achieve maximum integration of
State and Agency data management systems; and
(7) facilitate small business compliance;
(8) recommend any Federal statutory changes
needed to remedy any of the following:
(A) Data gaps, particularly those that im-
pede the development of environmental perform-
ance indicators.
(B) Redundancy and overlaps.
(C) Conflicts among definitions.
(D) Inconsistencies or other weaknesses in
the required frequency and timing of reports,
including inconsistencies between requirements
imposed by the Agency’s regions, its head-
quarters and the States.
(E) Requirements that are no longer rel-
evant or fail to contribute to public awareness
or Agency decisionmaking.
(F) Inconsistencies in the treatment of ex-
emptions from reporting;
(9) describe how the electronic collection and
dissemination of data will be facilitated;
(10) review State reporting requirements and
identify any State forms or procedures that could be
used to fulfill Federal reporting requirements;
(11) assess the value of voluntary industry re-
porting measures, including but not limited to those
organized by the International Organization for
Standardization and the Coalition for Environ-
mentally Responsible Economies.
(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—Within 3 years after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall promul-
gate any final regulations that are needed to implement
the plan required by subsection (a) and shall take any
other steps necessary to implement the plan.
(d) UPDATE.—After completing the activities re-
quired by subsection (c), the Administrator shall, periodi-
cally, but no less frequently than every other year, review
the plan issued under subsection (a) and publish in the
Federal Register any changes to the plan.
(e) CONSISTENCY.—The Administrator shall ensure
that actions under this section are consistent with, and
assist with the compilation of the indicators required by
section 102.
SEC. 104. INFORMATION MANAGEMENT.
(a) INFORMATION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM.—Within
2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Admin-
istrator shall establish an Information Management Pro-
gram, to provide financial assistance to States, and rel-
evant local entities, including Publicly Owned Treatment
Works, through grants, cooperative agreements, or con-
tracts, to improve the accuracy and timeliness of environ-
mental reporting and to meet the goals of the plan pub-
lished under section 103(a).
(b) SMALL BUSINESSES.—Within 3 years after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, acting
through the Small Business Ombudsman, shall create a
program to provide technical and financial assistance to
small businesses (individually or through trade associa-
tions) to help them meet the requirements of the plan pub-
lished under section 103(a). The Administrator shall pub-
lish the guidelines for the program in the Federal Register
and shall publicize them widely. Any financial assistance
provided under this program shall require a matching re-
quirement of at least one-third from the small business
or trade association.
(c) PUBLIC RECOGNITION.—The Administrator may
establish a program to publicly recognize regulated entities
that most speedily and fully report accurate information
electronically to the Agency.
SEC. 105. BUDGET REPORT.
Beginning with the President’s second budget sub-
mission to Congress after the enactment of this Act and
with every submission thereafter, the President shall in-
clude in the budget submission a comprehensive analysis
of the activities in each Federal agency devoted to meas-
uring ambient environmental conditions and trends either
directly or through providing funds to other entities for
that purpose. The analysis shall also examine the extent
to which the activities contribute to, and are consistent
with, the indicators published pursuant to section 102.
SEC. 106. INCENTIVES FOR IMPROVED MONITORING AND
OTHER MEASUREMENT METHODS.
(a) RECOGNITION.—The Administrator shall estab-
lish a program to publicly recognize persons who—
(1) develop environmental monitoring tech-
nologies, and other measurement methods that sub-
stantially improve the ability to track ambient envi-
ronmental conditions, facility emissions, or other
measures of environmental performance; or substan-
tially improve the accuracy, accessibility, or reli-
ability of such data;
(2) deploy, or promote the use of, existing mon-
itoring technologies and other measurement methods
that have not been adequately deployed or commer-
cialized;
(3) utilize monitoring technologies, and other
measurement methods that are able to increase the
precision, timeliness and accuracy of environmental
performance data; and
(4) develop technologies and other methods that
reduce the costs of collecting or disseminating moni-
toring data.
(b) MONITORING.—Within 6 months of the date of
enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to
the Congress a report analyzing the length of time the
Agency has taken over the 10 prior years to approve moni-
toring technologies and recommending ways—
(1) to reduce that time to more quickly get reli-
able monitoring information to the Agency and the
public; and
(2) to increase the deployment of existing moni-
toring technologies, particularly those that would en-
able the Agency to make determinations about better
environmental performance under section 203(c).
(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 6 months
after the submission of the report required by subsection
(b), the Administrator shall implement the recommenda-
tions in that report.
SEC. 107. SAVINGS PROVISIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this title shall be con-
strued to alter the authority of the Administrator to ob-
tain or make available information.
(b) CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION.—Noth-
ing in this title shall be construed to change the definition
of, or require the public release of confidential business
information.
(c) PAPERWORK REDUCTION.—The actions under
this Act shall be consistent with the Paperwork Reduction
Act.
(d) GPRA.—The Agency’s plans under the Govern-
ment Performance and Results Act of 1993 (Public Law
103–62; 107 Stat. 285) shall include agency activities
under this title.
SEC. 108. REPORTS TO CONGRESS ON THE MODERNIZA-
TION OF REPORTING.
Within 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act,
the Administrator, in consultation other Federal agencies
and interested parties, shall submit to the Congress a re-
port analyzing whether the Administrative Procedures Act
(5 U.S.C. chapters 5 and 7) should be amended to apply
to information reporting requirements and the use of ex-
isting information to create new information products. In
the report, the Administrator shall analyze whether the
Act could be amended to require more public comment and
involvement in the setting of reporting requirements and
the development of new information products and to en-
sure that information disseminated by the Agency is wide-
ly available, accurate and presented in a form that is use-
ful to the general public. The report shall include any spe-
cific recommendations the Administrator may have for
amending the Act and any other statute to promote a
more open and accurate information system.
SEC. 109. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums
as may be necessary in each fiscal year through fiscal year
2005 to carry out the activities in this title.
TITLE II—INNOVATIVE
STRATEGIES
SEC. 201. INNOVATIVE STRATEGY AGREEMENTS.
(a) AUTHORITY.—The Administrator is authorized to
enter into innovative strategy agreements under this title
to experiment with new approaches to regulation.
(b) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.—The Administrator may
enter into innovative strategy agreements with any person,
State, Indian tribe, commission, political subdivision of a
State, interstate body, or department, agency or instru-
mentality of the United States that the Administrator de-
termines has a good overall record of meeting statutory
environmental standards.
(c) TIME FOR SUBMISSION.—Applicants may submit
proposals to enter into innovative strategy agreements be-
ginning 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 202. PROCEDURES.
(a) GENERAL GUIDANCE.—Within 180 days after the
enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation
with the States and other interested parties, shall publish
in the Federal Register each of the following:
(1) A list of environmental concerns that will be
given priority when reviewing proposed innovative
strategy agreements and ensure that the list gives
priority to environmental problems—
(A) for which conventional approaches to
regulation have already proven to be less than
fully successful, such as nonpoint source pollu-
tion or reducing pollution from small sources
that have a large cumulative effect;
(B) that present significant public health
or ecological risks that have not yet been ad-
dressed by regulation; or
(C) that are of particular concern to an in-
dividual community.
(2) Guidelines specifying the form and require-
ments for submitting a proposal to enter into an in-
novative strategy agreement, including the appro-
priate points of contact within the Agency. At a
minimum a proposal submission shall—
(A) identify its expected environmental
benefits and any other expected benefits to the
public;
(B) identify any Agency rule, requirement,
policy, or practice for which a modification or
waiver is sought and any alternative require-
ment that is proposed.
(3) Guidelines as to how the Administrator will
determine whether the eligible applicant has con-
sulted adequately with interested national, State,
and community groups and the general public in de-
veloping the proposal.
(b) INITIAL REVIEW.—No later than 90 days after
the submission of a proposal to enter into an innovative
strategy agreement, the Administrator shall complete an
initial review of the proposal to determine if the proposal
meets the criteria in section 203 and is sufficiently likely
to accomplish its objectives to merit further review. If the
proposal is rejected, the Administrator shall clearly state
the reasons for the rejection in writing to the applicant.
Any decision the Administrator makes during the initial
review under this subsection shall be within the Adminis-
trator’s sole discretion.
(c) REVIEW TIMETABLE.—Immediately upon comple-
tion of the initial review, if the Administrator determines
the proposal merits further review, the Administrator
shall—
(1) enter into negotiations with the applicant
with the intent of bringing the agreement to comple-
tion within 120 days; and
(2) publish a notice in the Federal Register re-
questing public comment on the proposal.
If negotiations are continuing beyond 120 days, the Ad-
ministrator shall issue to the applicant a 1-page summary
of the progress of negotiations and a revised schedule for
the completion of negotiations.
(d) FINAL DECISION.—If, after negotiations, the Ad-
ministrator and the applicant decide to enter into an inno-
vative strategy agreement, the Administrator shall publish
the text of the agreement in the Federal Register no later
than 7 days after the agreement has been signed. If the
Administrator terminates negotiations at any point, the
Administrator shall provide an explanation in writing to
the applicant and to the committees of jurisdiction in the
Congress as to why negotiations were terminated.
SEC. 203. CRITERIA.
(a) APPROVAL.—The Administrator may enter into
a proposed innovative strategy agreement only if the Ad-
ministrator determines that the agreement—
(1) can reasonably be expected to produce bet-
ter environmental results as defined in subsection
(c);
(2) includes a detailed, feasible monitoring plan
that will be used to determine if the agreement is
meeting its environmental goals as detailed pursuant
to section 204(b)(2) and will provide the Agency and
the public with better data to gauge the state of the
environment; and
(3) reflects the results of a stakeholder process
in conformance with the guidelines issued under sec-
tion 202(a)(3) that demonstrates that the proposal
has broad support and that its environmental impli-
cations are fully understood by all interested parties.
(b) PREFERENCE.—
(1) PRIMARY FACTORS.—In reviewing proposed
innovative strategy agreements, the Administrator
shall give preference to those that address priorities
listed in the guidelines issued under section
202(a)(1) and that are most likely to produce better
environmental results as defined in subsection (c)(1)
or (2).
(2) ADDITIONAL FACTORS.—After the Adminis-
trator has determined that a proposed innovative
strategy agreement meets the criteria in paragraph
(1), the Administrator shall also weigh factors set
forth in this paragraph in determining the degree of
preference to grant to that proposal. The Adminis-
trator 
shall 
consider 
whether 
the 
proposed
agreement—
(A) is designed to demonstrate the efficacy
of new methods of regulation, pollution preven-
tion or abatement, reducing the use of land,
water, or other resources, or monitoring that
are most likely to have wide applicability;
(B) would provide enhanced accountability
through such means as monitoring systems that
will provide data for the environmental perform-
ance indicators issued pursuant to section 102;
(C) is likely to result in greater cost sav-
ings for the Federal Government, States, and
the applicant;
(D) has the broadest community support
as demonstrated through an inclusive and thor-
ough stakeholder process; or
(E) is proposed by applicants with effective
environmental management programs.
The Administrator shall give the greatest preference to
proposals that meet the criteria of paragraph (1) and have
the greatest number of characteristics enumerated in this
paragraph.
(c) BETTER ENVIRONMENTAL RESULTS.—The Ad-
ministrator shall consider that an innovative strategy
agreement can reasonably be expected to produce better