Scientific Integrity Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 849 To amend the America COMPETES Act to establish certain scientific integ- rity policies for Federal agencies that fund, conduct, or oversee scientific research, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 4, 2021 Mr. TONKO (for himself, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. BEYER, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. CASTEN, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. KILMER, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. COOPER, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. MORELLE, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mrs. KIRK- PATRICK, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Mr. LIEU, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Miss RICE of New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Ms. KUSTER, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. SHER- MAN, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. KIM of New Jersey, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. BERA, Mr. CRIST, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Mr. CLEAVER, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. STANTON, Mr. LAMB, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. NADLER, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. CASE, Mr. KAHELE, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. RUSH, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. POCAN, Ms. SPANBERGER, Ms. WEXTON, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Ms. ROSS, Mr. SIRES, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. LANGEVIN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. CROW, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. SPEIER, Mrs. LURIA, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. COHEN, Ms. CHU, Mr. DELGADO, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. AUCHINCLOSS, Mr. PAPPAS, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Mr. WELCH, Ms. MANNING, Mr. HIMES, Mrs. FLETCHER, Mr. JONES, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. EVANS, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Ms. DEAN, Mr. NEGUSE, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. YARMUTH, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. VELA, Mrs. LAWRENCE, VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:06 Feb 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H849.IH H849 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 849 IH Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mrs. DEMINGS, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. ROYBAL- ALLARD, Ms. TITUS, Ms. NEWMAN, Mr. RYAN, Ms. CLARK of Massachu- setts, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. KEATING, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. CORREA, Mr. TRONE, Ms. MENG, Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. CUELLAR, Mrs. AXNE, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Ms. PORTER, Ms. KAPTUR, and Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology A BILL To amend the America COMPETES Act to establish certain scientific integrity policies for Federal agencies that fund, conduct, or oversee scientific research, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Scientific Integrity 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6 It is the sense of Congress that— 7 (1) science and the scientific process should 8 help inform and guide public policy decisions on a 9 wide range of issues, including improvement of pub- 10 lic health, protection of the environment, and protec- 11 tion of national security; 12 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:06 Feb 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H849.IH H849 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 849 IH (2) the public must be able to trust the science 1 and scientific process informing public policy deci- 2 sions; 3 (3) science, the scientific process, and the com- 4 munication of science should be free from politics, 5 ideology, and financial conflicts of interest; 6 (4) policies and procedures that ensure the in- 7 tegrity of the conduct and communication of publicly 8 funded science are critical to ensuring public trust; 9 (5) a Federal agency that funds, conducts, or 10 oversees research should not suppress, alter, inter- 11 fere with, or otherwise impede the timely commu- 12 nication and open exchange of data and findings to 13 other agencies, policymakers, and the public of re- 14 search conducted by a scientist or engineer employed 15 or contracted by a Federal agency that funds, con- 16 ducts, or oversees scientific research; 17 (6) Federal agencies that fund, conduct, or 18 oversee research should work to prevent the suppres- 19 sion or distortion of the data and findings; 20 (7) under the First Amendment to the Con- 21 stitution, citizens of the United States have the right 22 to ‘‘petition the government for a redress of griev- 23 ances’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:06 Feb 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H849.IH H849 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 849 IH (8) Congress has further protected those rights 1 under section 7211 of title 5, United States Code, 2 which states, ‘‘the right of employees, individually or 3 collectively, to petition Congress or a member of 4 Congress . . . may not be interfered with or denied’’. 5 SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO AMERICA COMPETES ACT. 6 Section 1009 of the America COMPETES Act (42 7 U.S.C. 6620) is amended by striking subsections (a) and 8 (b) and inserting the following: 9 ‘‘(a) SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY POLICIES.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 11 after the date of enactment of the Scientific Integ- 12 rity Act, the head of each covered agency shall— 13 ‘‘(A) adopt and enforce a scientific integ- 14 rity policy in accordance with subsections (b) 15 and (c); and 16 ‘‘(B) submit such policy to the Director of 17 the Office of Science and Technology Policy for 18 approval. 19 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 30 days 20 after the Director of the Office of Science and Tech- 21 nology Policy approves the scientific integrity policy 22 under paragraph (1), the head of each covered agen- 23 cy shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:06 Feb 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H849.IH H849 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 849 IH ‘‘(A) make such policy available to the 1 public on the website of the agency; and 2 ‘‘(B) submit such policy to the relevant 3 Committees of Congress. 4 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—A scientific integrity policy 5 under subsection (a)— 6 ‘‘(1) shall prohibit any covered individual 7 from— 8 ‘‘(A) engaging in dishonesty, fraud, deceit, 9 misrepresentation, coercive manipulation, or 10 other scientific or research misconduct; 11 ‘‘(B) suppressing, altering, interfering 12 with, delaying without scientific merit, or other- 13 wise impeding the release and communication 14 of, scientific or technical findings; 15 ‘‘(C) intimidating or coercing an individual 16 to alter or censor, attempting to intimidate or 17 coerce an individual to alter or censor, or retali- 18 ating against an individual for failure to alter 19 or censor, scientific or technical findings; or 20 ‘‘(D) implementing an institutional barrier 21 to cooperation with scientists outside the cov- 22 ered agency and the timely communication of 23 scientific or technical findings; 24 ‘‘(2) shall allow a covered individual to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:06 Feb 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H849.IH H849 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 849 IH ‘‘(A) disseminate scientific or technical 1 findings, subject to existing law, by— 2 ‘‘(i) participating in scientific con- 3 ferences; and 4 ‘‘(ii) seeking publication in online and 5 print publications through peer-reviewed, 6 professional, or scholarly journals; 7 ‘‘(B) sit on scientific advisory or governing 8 boards; 9 ‘‘(C) join or hold leadership positions on 10 scientific councils, societies, unions, and other 11 professional organizations; 12 ‘‘(D) contribute to the academic peer-re- 13 view process as reviewers or editors; and 14 ‘‘(E) participate and engage with the sci- 15 entific community; 16 ‘‘(3) may require a covered individual to, before 17 disseminating scientific or technical findings as de- 18 scribed in paragraph (2)(A), submit such findings to 19 the agency for the purpose of review by the agency 20 of the data and findings for technical accuracy if the 21 scientific integrity policy outlines a clear and con- 22 sistent process for such review; and 23 ‘‘(4) shall require that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:06 Feb 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H849.IH H849 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 849 IH ‘‘(A) scientific conclusions are not made 1 based on political considerations; 2 ‘‘(B) the selection and retention of can- 3 didates for science and technology positions in 4 the covered agency are based primarily on the 5 candidate’s expertise, scientific credentials, ex- 6 perience, and integrity; 7 ‘‘(C) personnel actions regarding covered 8 individuals, except for political appointees, are 9 not taken on the basis of political consideration 10 or ideology; 11 ‘‘(D) covered individuals adhere to the 12 highest ethical and professional standards in 13 conducting their research and disseminating 14 their findings; 15 ‘‘(E) the appropriate rules, procedures, 16 and safeguards are in place to ensure the integ- 17 rity of the scientific process within the covered 18 agency; 19 ‘‘(F) scientific or technological information 20 considered in policy decisions is subject to well- 21 established scientific processes, including peer 22 review where appropriate; 23 ‘‘(G) procedures, including procedures with 24 respect to applicable whistleblower protections, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:06 Feb 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H849.IH H849 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 849 IH are in place as are necessary to ensure the in- 1 tegrity of scientific and technological informa- 2 tion and processes on which the covered agency 3 relies in its decision making or otherwise uses; 4 and 5 ‘‘(H) enforcement of such policy is con- 6 sistent with the processes for an administrative 7 hearing and an administrative appeal. 8 ‘‘(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—In carrying out subsection 9 (a), the head of each covered agency shall— 10 ‘‘(1) design the scientific integrity policy to 11 apply with respect to the covered agency; 12 ‘‘(2) ensure that such policy is clear with re- 13 spect to what activities are permitted and what ac- 14 tivities are not permitted; 15 ‘‘(3) ensure that there is a process for individ- 16 uals not employed or contracted by the agency, in- 17 cluding grantees, collaborators, partners, and volun- 18 teers, to report violations of the scientific integrity 19 policy; 20 ‘‘(4) enforce such policy uniformly throughout 21 the covered agency; and 22 ‘‘(5) make such policy available to the public, 23 employees, private contractors, and grantees of the 24 covered agency. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:06 Feb 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H849.IH H849 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 849 IH ‘‘(d) SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY OFFICER.—Not later 1 than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, each 2 covered agency shall appoint a Scientific Integrity Officer, 3 who shall— 4 ‘‘(1) be a career employee at the covered agency 5 in a professional position; 6 ‘‘(2) have technical knowledge and expertise in 7 conducting and overseeing scientific research; 8 ‘‘(3) direct the activities and duties described in 9 subsections (e), (f), and (g); and 10 ‘‘(4) work closely with the inspector general of 11 the covered agency, as appropriate. 12 ‘‘(e) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS AND TRAINING.— 13 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 14 this Act, the head of each covered agency shall establish— 15 ‘‘(1) an administrative process and administra- 16 tive appeal process for dispute resolution consistent 17 with the scientific integrity policy of the covered 18 agency adopted under subsection (a); and 19 ‘‘(2) a training program to provide— 20 ‘‘(A) regular scientific integrity and ethics 21 training to employees and contractors of the 22 covered agency; 23 ‘‘(B) new covered employees with training 24 within one month of commencing employment; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:06 Feb 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H849.IH H849 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 849 IH ‘‘(C) information to ensure that covered in- 1 dividuals are fully aware of their rights and re- 2 sponsibilities regarding the conduct of scientific 3 research, publication of scientific research, and 4 communication with the media and the public 5 regarding scientific research; and 6 ‘‘(D) information to ensure that covered 7 individuals are fully aware of their rights and 8 responsibilities for administrative hearings and 9 appeals established in the covered agency’s sci- 10 entific integrity policy. 11 ‘‘(f) REPORTING.— 12 ‘‘(1) ANNUAL REPORT.—Each year, each Sci- 13 entific Integrity Officer appointed by a covered agen- 14 cy under subsection (d) shall post an annual report 15 on the public website of the covered agency that in- 16 cludes, for the year covered by the report— 17 ‘‘(A) the number of complaints of mis- 18 conduct with respect to the scientific integrity 19 policy adopted under subsection (a)— 20 ‘‘(i) filed for administrative redress; 21 ‘‘(ii) petitioned for administrative ap- 22 peal; and 23 ‘‘(iii) still pending from years prior to 24 the year covered by the report, if any; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:06 Feb 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H849.IH H849 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 849 IH ‘‘(B) an anonymized summary of each such 1 complaint and the results of each such com- 2 plaint; and 3 ‘‘(C) any changes made to the scientific in- 4 tegrity policy. 5 ‘‘(2) INCIDENT REPORT.— 6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 7 days after the date on which an incident de- 8 scribed in subparagraph (B) occurs, the head of 9 a covered agency shall submit a report describ- 10 ing the incident to the Office of Science and 11 Technology Policy and the relevant Committees 12 of Congress. 13 ‘‘(B) INCIDENT.—An incident described 14 under this paragraph is an incident in which an 15 individual, acting outside the channels estab- 16 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]