An Act To Create Guidelines To Promote Good Science in Rulemaking
Maine Legislature, Session 121, LD 0942
Committee: State and Local Government
Sponsors: SAVIELLO, WOODCOCK, ANNIS, JOY, KOFFMAN, MAKAS, MOODY, PINEAU, SUSLOVIC, THOMPSON
Amends: 5 MRSA §8059-A

Legislative Document 
No. 942 
H.P.699 
House of Representatives, February 25, 2003 
An Act To Create Guidelines To Promote Good Science in 
Rulemaking 
Reference to the Committee on State and Local Government suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative SAVIELLO of Wilton. 
Cosponsored by Senator WOODCOCK of Franklin and 
17/~ 
/J7.7l/dC~ 
Mll.LICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Representatives: ANNIS of Dover-Foxcroft, JOY of Crystal, KOFFMAN of Bar Harbor, 
MAKAS of Lewiston, MOODY of Manchester, PINEAU of Jay, SUSLOVIC of Portland, 
THOMPSON of China. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec.!. 5 MRSA §8059-A is enacted to read: 
§8059-A. 
Quality of information in rule-making proceedings 
1. 
Definitions. 
As 
used 
in this 
section, 
unless 
the 
context 
otherwise 
indicates, 
when 
referring 
to 
information 
provided and used by agencies in rule-making procedures, 
the 
following terms have the following meanings. 
A. 
"Influential 
information" 
means 
information 
that 
an 
agency reasonably determines will have or does have a clear 
and 
substantial 
impact 
on 
important 
public 
policies 
or 
important decisions within the private sector. 
B. 
"Information" means any communication or representation 
of knowledge such as facts or data, in any medium or form, 
including 
textual, 
numerical, 
graphic, 
cartographic, 
narrative 
or 
audiovisual 
forms. 
"Information" 
does 
not 
include opinions, when the entity presenting the information 
makes it clear that what is being offered is someone's 
opinion rather than fact. 
C. 
"Integrity of information" means 
the security of the 
information, 
including 
protection 
of 
information 
from 
unauthorized access or revision and protection against the 
compromise 
of 
information 
through 
corruption 
or 
falsification. 
D. 
"Objectivity" when referring to information, means the 
extent to which information is presented in an accurate, 
clear, complete and unbiased manner and is presented within 
a proper context. 
E. 
"Ouality" means utility, Objectivity and integrity. 
F. 
"Utility" means 
the usefulness of information to its 
intended users. 
2. 
Establishment of standards; criteria. 
In conducting 
rulemaking 
under 
this 
chapter, 
an 
agency 
shall 
incorporate 
information 
quality 
criteria 
into 
its 
agency 
rule-making 
practices and shall adopt specific standards of quality that are 
appropriate for the various categories of information that are 
used as evidence in a rule-making proceeding under this chapter. 
A. 
To assess the objectivity of information, 
the agency 
shall : 
Page l-LRI371(I) 
(1) 
To 
the 
extent 
possible 
consistent 
with 
conf identiali ty restrictions, 
identify the source of 
the information; 
(2) 
With 
respect 
to 
scientific, 
financial 
or 
statistical information, identify the supporting data 
and models; 
(3) 
With respect to influential scientific, financial 
or statistical information, ensure full, accurate and 
transparent documentation about data and methods 
to 
facilitate reproducibility of results: and 
(4) 
Identify and disclose error sources affecting the 
information. 
If information has been subjected to formal, 
independent, 
external peer review, that information is presumed to be 
Objective. 
This presumption is rebuttable upon a persuasive 
showing to the contrary. 
If an agency-sponsored peer review is used to satisfy the 
objectivity standard, 
the 
review process 
used must meet 
generally accepted criteria for competent and credible peer 
review. 
B. 
To assess the utility of information, the agency must 
consider 
the 
transparency 
of 
the 
data 
and 
methods, 
if 
relevant, 
and 
consider 
the 
potential 
uses 
of 
the 
information, including potential uses by the public. 
C. 
To assess the integrity of information, the agency must 
consider the specific steps taken to protect the information 
from corruption, revision or falsification. 
3. 
Review of quality of information. 
Each state agency 
shall develop a process for reviewing the guality of information 
before that information is used as evidence in a 
rule-making 
proceeding under this chapter. 
Sec. 
2. 
Application. 
This 
Act 
applies 
to 
proceedings that begin on or after October 1, 2003. 
SUMMARY 
rule-making 
This bill requires state agencies to establish standards of 
objectivity, 
utility 
and 
integrity 
for 
information 
used 
and 
relied upon in conducting rule-making proceedings under the Maine 
Administrative Procedure Act.