I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1029 
To amend the Environmental Research, Development, and Demonstration 
Authorization Act of 1978 to provide for Scientific Advisory Board mem-
ber qualifications, public participation, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 24, 2015 
Mr. LUCAS (for himself, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. STEWART, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. 
SMITH of Texas, Mr. BRIDENSTINE, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. PALAZZO, 
Mr. BROOKS of Alabama, Mr. HULTGREN, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. 
BABIN, 
Mrs. 
COMSTOCK, 
Mr. 
NEWHOUSE, 
Mrs. 
LUMMIS, 
Mr. 
SCHWEIKERT, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. 
PEARCE, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. GOSAR, and Mr. CRAWFORD) 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. 
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 ‘‘EPA Science Advisory 
Board Reform Act of 2015’’. 
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SEC. 2. SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD. 
(a) INDEPENDENT ADVICE.—Section 8(a) of the En-
vironmental Research, Development, and Demonstration 
Authorization Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 4365(a)) is amend-
ed by inserting ‘‘independently’’ after ‘‘Advisory Board 
which shall’’. 
(b) MEMBERSHIP.—Section 8(b) of the Environ-
mental Research, Development, and Demonstration Au-
thorization Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 4365(b)) is amended 
to read as follows: 
‘‘(b)(1) The Board shall be composed of at least nine 
members, one of whom shall be designated Chairman, and 
shall meet at such times and places as may be designated 
by the Chairman. 
‘‘(2) Each member of the Board shall be qualified by 
education, training, and experience to evaluate scientific 
and technical information on matters referred to the 
Board under this section. The Administrator shall ensure 
that— 
‘‘(A) the scientific and technical points of view 
represented on and the functions to be performed by 
the Board are fairly balanced among the members of 
the Board; 
‘‘(B) at least ten percent of the membership of 
the Board are from State, local, or tribal govern-
ments; 
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‘‘(C) persons with substantial and relevant ex-
pertise are not excluded from the Board due to af-
filiation with or representation of entities that may 
have a potential interest in the Board’s advisory ac-
tivities, so long as that interest is fully disclosed to 
the Administrator and the public and appointment 
to the Board complies with section 208 of title 18, 
United States Code; 
‘‘(D) in the case of a Board advisory activity on 
a particular matter involving a specific party, no 
Board member having an interest in the specific 
party shall participate in that activity; 
‘‘(E) Board members may not participate in ad-
visory activities that directly or indirectly involve re-
view or evaluation of their own work, unless fully 
disclosed to the public and the work has been exter-
nally peer-reviewed; 
‘‘(F) Board members shall be designated as 
special Government employees; and 
‘‘(G) no federally registered lobbyist is ap-
pointed to the Board. 
‘‘(3) The Administrator shall— 
‘‘(A) solicit public nominations for the Board by 
publishing a notification in the Federal Register; 
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