I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 62 
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 
JANUARY 4, 2021 
Mr. BIGGS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
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 ‘‘Improving Science in 
Chemical Assessments Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. RESEARCH NEEDS AND PRIORITIES OF EPA PRO-
GRAM OFFICES. 
The Environmental Research, Development, and 
Demonstration Authorization Act is amended by striking 
section 7 (42 U.S.C. 4364) and inserting the following: 
‘‘SEC. 7. RESEARCH NEEDS AND PRIORITIES OF EPA PRO-
GRAM OFFICES. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency shall assure that the expend-
iture of any funds appropriated pursuant to this Act or 
any other provision of law for environmental research and 
development related to regulatory program activities shall 
be coordinated with and reflect the research needs and pri-
orities of the relevant program offices, as well as the over-
all research needs and priorities of the Agency, including 
those defined in the five-year research plan. 
‘‘(b) HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND DOSE-RESPONSE 
ASSESSMENTS.—Beginning on the date of the enactment 
of the Improving Science in Chemical Assessments Act, 
any covered assessments carried out with respect to a 
chemical substance through the Integrated Risk Informa-
tion System program of the Environmental Protection 
Agency as of the day before such date of enactment shall, 
in lieu of being carried out through such program, be car-
ried out by the relevant program office of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency, so long as the relevant program 
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office determines there is a need for such an assessment. 
Such an assessment shall be carried out using the sci-
entific standards specified in section 7B and be based on 
the weight of the scientific evidence. 
‘‘(c) TOXICITY VALUES.—In carrying out a covered 
assessment with respect to a chemical substance under 
subsection (a), the relevant program office shall assign a 
toxicity value or values, when scientifically supported by 
the available data, for such chemical substance. With re-
spect 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 de-
veloped, the relevant program office shall— 
‘‘(A) consider all datasets; and 
‘‘(B) make a determination about how best 
to represent the human health risk posed by the 
chemical substance involved. 
‘‘(d) CHEMICAL ASSESSMENT DATABASE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A toxicity value or values 
assigned to a chemical substance under subsection 
(c) shall be included in a chemical assessment data-
base to be maintained by the Office of Research and 
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Development of the Environmental Protection Agen-
cy. 
‘‘(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 up-
dated 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. 
‘‘(e) CERTIFICATION.—Beginning 2 years after the 
date of the enactment of the Improving Science in Chem-
ical Assessments Act and every 2 years thereafter, the Of-
fice of Research and Development of the Environmental 
Protection Agency shall submit to the Committee on 
Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Environment and Public Works of 
the Senate, a report containing a certification that each 
covered assessment completed during the period covered 
by the report was conducted using the scientific standards 
specified in section 7B. 
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‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, section 7A, and 
section 7B: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘covered assessment’ means, with 
respect to the evaluation of the human health effects 
resulting from chronic exposure to a chemical sub-
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. 
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‘‘SEC. 7A. HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND DOSE-RESPONSE 
STEERING COMMITTEE. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 
the date of the enactment of the Improving Science in 
Chemical Assessments Act, the Administrator of the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency shall establish a chemical 
hazard identification and dose-response steering com-
mittee (referred to in this Act as the ‘steering committee’) 
to coordinate the conduct of covered assessments by rel-
evant program offices for purposes of ensuring that, with 
respect to such assessments, there is no duplication of ef-
fort 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-
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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. 
‘‘(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 
specified in section 7B; 
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‘‘(2) has undergone independent scientific re-
view for transparency, completeness, and quality; 
and 
‘‘(3) reflects the best available science and the 
weight of the available scientific evidence. 
‘‘SEC. 7B. SCIENTIFIC STANDARDS. 
‘‘Covered assessments carried out under section 7 
and discussion of such assessments and review of third- 
party assessments carried out under section 7A, shall be 
conducted using scientific information, technical proce-
dures, measures, methods, protocols, methodologies, or 
models in a manner consistent with the best available 
science. In carrying out such an assessment, the relevant 
program office shall integrate all lines of scientific evi-
dence 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; 
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‘‘(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-
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 
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