BEST Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4693 To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide requirements for agency decision making based on science. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 Mr. LANKFORD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide requirements for agency decision making based on science. 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 ‘‘Better Evaluation of 4 Science and Technology Act’’ or the ‘‘BEST Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. USE OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION IN RULEMAK- 6 ING. 7 Section 553 of title 5, United States Code, is amend- 8 ed by adding at the end the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4693.IS S4693 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4693 IS ‘‘(f) To the extent that an agency makes a decision 1 based on science when issuing a rule under this section, 2 the agency shall use scientific information, technical pro- 3 cedures, measures, methods, protocols, methodologies, or 4 models, employed in a manner consistent with the best 5 available science, and shall consider as applicable— 6 ‘‘(1) the extent to which the scientific informa- 7 tion, technical procedures, measures, methods, proto- 8 cols, methodologies, or models employed to generate 9 the information are reasonable for and consistent 10 with the intended use of the information; 11 ‘‘(2) the extent to which the information is rel- 12 evant for use by the head of the agency in making 13 a decision related to issuing the rule; 14 ‘‘(3) the degree of clarity and completeness with 15 which the data, assumptions, methods, quality assur- 16 ance, and analyses employed to generate the infor- 17 mation are documented; 18 ‘‘(4) the extent to which the variability and un- 19 certainty in the information, or in the procedures, 20 measures, methods, protocols, methodologies, or 21 models, are evaluated and characterized; and 22 ‘‘(5) the extent of independent verification or 23 peer review of the information or of the procedures, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4693.IS S4693 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4693 IS measures, methods, protocols, methodologies, or 1 models. 2 ‘‘(g) An agency shall make a decision described in 3 subsection (f) based on the weight of the scientific evi- 4 dence. 5 ‘‘(h) Each agency shall make available to the public— 6 ‘‘(1) all notices, determinations, findings, rules, 7 consent agreements, and orders of the head of the 8 agency in connection with a rule; 9 ‘‘(2) a nontechnical summary of each risk eval- 10 uation conducted in connection with a rule; and 11 ‘‘(3) a list of the studies considered by the 12 agency in carrying out each risk evaluation described 13 in paragraph (2), along with the results of those 14 studies.’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:27 Oct 14, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4693.IS S4693 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS