IB 
Union Calendar No. 33 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1430 
[Report No. 115–59] 
To prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from proposing, finalizing, 
or disseminating regulations or assessments based upon science that 
is not transparent or reproducible. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 8, 2017 
Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. 
BANKS of Indiana, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. POSEY, Mr. BROOKS of Ala-
bama, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. BABIN, Mr. PALMER, Mr. HIGGINS of 
Louisiana, Mr. HULTGREN, Mr. BRIDENSTINE, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. 
LAHOOD, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. DUNN, Mr. 
SESSIONS, Mr. CHAFFETZ, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. 
PALAZZO, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. BARTON, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. GOSAR, 
Mr. TIPTON, and Mr. GOODLATTE) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 
MARCH 24, 2017 
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 
and ordered to be printed 
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A BILL 
To prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from pro-
posing, finalizing, or disseminating regulations or assess-
ments based upon science that is not transparent or 
reproducible. 
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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 ‘‘Honest and Open New 
EPA Science Treatment Act of 2017’’ or the ‘‘HONEST 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DATA TRANSPARENCY. 
Section 6(b) of the Environmental Research, Devel-
opment, and Demonstration Authorization Act of 1978 
(42 U.S.C. 4363 note) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b)(1) The Administrator shall not propose, finalize, 
or disseminate a covered action unless all scientific and 
technical information relied on to support such covered ac-
tion is— 
‘‘(A) the best available science; 
‘‘(B) specifically identified; and 
‘‘(C) publicly available online in a manner that 
is sufficient for independent analysis and substantial 
reproduction of research results, except that any 
personally identifiable information, trade secrets, or 
commercial or financial information obtained from a 
person and privileged or confidential, shall be re-
dacted prior to public availability. 
‘‘(2) The redacted information described in para-
graph (1)(C) shall be disclosed to a person only after such 
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person signs a written confidentiality agreement with the 
Administrator, subject to guidance to be developed by the 
Administrator. 
‘‘(3) Nothing in the subsection shall be construed 
as— 
‘‘(A) requiring the Administrator to disseminate 
scientific and technical information; 
‘‘(B) superseding any nondiscretionary statu-
tory requirement; or 
‘‘(C) requiring the Administrator to repeal, re-
issue, or modify a regulation in effect on the date of 
enactment of the Honest and Open New EPA 
Science Treatment Act of 2017. 
‘‘(4) In this subsection— 
‘‘(A) the term ‘covered action’ means a risk, ex-
posure, or hazard assessment, criteria document, 
standard, limitation, regulation, regulatory impact 
analysis, or guidance; and 
‘‘(B) the term ‘scientific and technical informa-
tion’ includes— 
‘‘(i) materials, data, and associated proto-
cols necessary to understand, assess, and ex-
tend conclusions; 
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‘‘(ii) computer codes and models involved 
in the creation and analysis of such informa-
tion; 
‘‘(iii) recorded factual materials; and 
‘‘(iv) detailed descriptions of how to access 
and use such information. 
‘‘(5) The Administrator shall carry out this sub-
section in a manner that does not exceed $1,000,000 per 
fiscal year, to be derived from amounts otherwise author-
ized to be appropriated.’’. 
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