I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2371 
To amend title 5, United States Code, to require that scientific studies 
used in a rule making be published, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 24, 2011 
Mr. BUCSHON (for himself, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. ISSA, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. 
FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. GIBBS, Mrs. BLACKBURN, and Mr. PAUL) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary 
A BILL 
To amend title 5, United States Code, to require that sci-
entific studies used in a rule making be published, 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 ‘‘Transparency in Rule 
Making When Using Scientific Testing Act of 2011’’. 
SEC. 2. REQUIRED PUBLICATION OF SCIENTIFIC STUDIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 553(b) of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’; 
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(2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(4) any scientific research of which the agency 
is aware and which is relevant to the rule making.’’. 
(b) DEFINITION.—Section 551 of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (13), by striking ‘‘and’’; 
(2) in paragraph (14), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(15) ‘scientific study’ means a study that— 
‘‘(A) applies rigorous, systematic, and ob-
jective methodology to obtain reliable and valid 
knowledge relevant to the subject matter in-
volved; 
‘‘(B) presents findings and makes claims 
that are appropriate to, and supported by, the 
methods that have been employed; and 
‘‘(C) includes, appropriate to the research 
being conducted— 
‘‘(i) use of systematic, empirical meth-
ods that draw on observation or experi-
ment; 
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‘‘(ii) use of data analyses that are 
adequate to support the general findings; 
‘‘(iii) reliance on measurements or ob-
servational methods that provide reliable 
and generalizable findings; 
‘‘(iv) strong claims of causal relation-
ships, only with research designs that 
eliminate plausible competing explanations 
for observed results, such as, but not lim-
ited to, random-assignment experiments; 
‘‘(v) presentation of studies and meth-
ods in sufficient detail and clarity to allow 
for replication or, at a minimum, to offer 
the opportunity to build systematically on 
the findings of the research; 
‘‘(vi) acceptance by a peer-reviewed 
journal or critique by a panel of inde-
pendent experts through a comparably rig-
orous, objective, and scientific review; and 
‘‘(vii) consistency of findings across 
multiple studies or sites to support the 
generality of results and conclusions.’’. 
Æ 
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