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H.R. 4012, Secret Science Reform Act of 2014 1 (October 3, 2014)

handle is hein.congrec/cbo1890 and id is 1 raw text is: CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE 0 COST ESTIMATE October 3, 2014 H.R. 4012 Secret Science Reform Act of 2014 As ordered reported by the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on June 24, 2014 H.R. 4012 would amend the Environmental Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization Act of 1978 to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from proposing, finalizing, or disseminating a covered action unless all scientific and technical information used to support that action is publicly available in a manner that is sufficient for independent analysis and substantial reproduction of research results. Covered actions would include assessments of risks, exposure, or hazards; documents specifying criteria, guidance, standards, or limitations; or regulations and regulatory impact statements. CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 4012 would cost about $250 million a year for the next few years, subject to appropriation of the necessary amounts. Costs in later years would probably decline gradually from that level. The additional discretionary spending would cover the costs of expanding the scope of EPA studies and related activities such as data collection and database construction for all of the information necessary to meet the legislation' s requirements. Enacting H.R. 4012 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. H.R. 4012 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, and tribal governments. Under current law, EPA typically spends about $500 million each year to support research and development activities, including assessments to determine the potential risk to public health from environmental contaminants. EPA relies on the findings of many scientific studies to develop regulations and perform other covered actions. The number of studies involved in such cases depends on the complexity of the issue being addressed. For example, when addressing a recent issue with flaring at petroleum refineries, EPA relied on a dozen scientific studies. In contrast, when reviewing the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, the agency relied on thousands of scientific studies. In total, the agency relies on about 50,000 scientific studies annually to perform its mission-although some of those studies are used more than once from year to year.

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