I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1106
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
FEBRUARY6, 2025
Mr. T
ONKO(for himself, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. BEYER, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. STE-
VENS, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. AMO, Ms. ANSARI, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mrs. BEATTY,
Mr. B
OYLEof Pennsylvania, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. CAR-
SON, Mr. CARTERof Louisiana, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. CASTORof Florida,
Ms. C
HU, Ms. CLARKEof New York, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. COHEN, Mr.
C
ONNOLLY, Ms. DEANof Pennsylvania, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. DELBENE,
Ms. D
EXTER, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. ELFRETH, Mrs.
F
LETCHER, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. FOSTER, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Ms. LOIS
F
RANKELof Florida, Mr. GARCI´Aof Illinois, Ms. GARCIAof Texas, Mr.
G
OLDENof Maine, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. GREENof Texas, Mr. GRI-
JALVA, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. HOYLEof Oregon, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr.
H
UFFMAN, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Ms. KELLYof Illi-
nois, Mr. K
RISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. LARSONof Connecticut, Ms. LEEof
Pennsylvania, Ms. L
EGERFERNANDEZ, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LYNCH, Ms.
M
ATSUI, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. MCBRIDE, Ms. MCCLELLAN, Ms. MCCOL-
LUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MOOREof Wisconsin, Mr.
M
ORELLE, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OCASIO-COR-
TEZ, Ms. OMAR, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. PETERS, Ms. PIN-
GREE, Ms. PLASKETT, Mr. POCAN, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr.
R
ASKIN, Ms. ROSS, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. SALINAS, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. SCAN-
LON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Ms. SCHRIER, Mr. SHERMAN,
Mr. S
MITHof Washington, Mr. SOTO, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. STANTON,
Ms. S
TRICKLAND, Mr. SUBRAMANYAM, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. TAKANO,
Mr. T
HANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSONof Mississippi, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TLAIB,
Mrs. T
ORRESof California, Mr. TURNERof Texas, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms.
W
ASSERMANSCHULTZ, Ms. WATERS, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN, and Ms.
W
ILLIAMSof Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1106.IH H1106
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 1106 IH
A BILL
To amend the America COMPETES Act to establish certain
scientific integrity policies for Federal agencies that
fund, conduct, or oversee scientific research, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Scientific Integrity 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6
It is the sense of Congress that— 7
(1) science and the scientific process should 8
help inform and guide public policy decisions on a 9
wide range of issues, including improvement of pub-10
lic health, protection of the environment, and protec-11
tion of national security; 12
(2) the public must be able to trust the science 13
and scientific process informing public policy deci-14
sions; 15
(3) science, the scientific process, and the com-16
munication of science should be free from politics, 17
ideology, and financial conflicts of interest; 18
(4) policies and procedures that ensure the in-19
tegrity of the conduct and communication of publicly 20
funded science are critical to ensuring public trust; 21
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1106.IH H1106
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 1106 IH
(5) a Federal agency that funds, conducts, or 1
oversees research should not suppress, alter, inter-2
fere with, or otherwise impede the timely commu-3
nication and open exchange of data and findings to 4
other agencies, policymakers, and the public of re-5
search conducted by a scientist or engineer employed 6
or contracted by a Federal agency that funds, con-7
ducts, or oversees scientific research; 8
(6) Federal agencies that fund, conduct, or 9
oversee research should work to prevent the suppres-10
sion or distortion of the data and findings; 11
(7) under the First Amendment to the Con-12
stitution, citizens of the United States have the right 13
to ‘‘petition the government for a redress of griev-14
ances’’; and 15
(8) Congress has further protected those rights 16
under section 7211 of title 5, United States Code, 17
which states, ‘‘the right of employees, individually or 18
collectively, to petition Congress or a member of 19
Congress . . . may not be interfered with or denied’’. 20
SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO AMERICA COMPETES ACT. 21
Section 1009 of the America COMPETES Act (42 22
U.S.C. 6620) is amended by striking subsections (a) and 23
(b) and inserting the following: 24
‘‘(a) S
CIENTIFICINTEGRITYPOLICIES.— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1106.IH H1106
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 1106 IH
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 1
after the date of enactment of the Scientific Integ-2
rity Act, the head of each covered agency shall— 3
‘‘(A) adopt and enforce a scientific integ-4
rity policy in accordance with subsections (b) 5
and (c); and 6
‘‘(B) submit such policy to the Director of 7
the Office of Science and Technology Policy for 8
approval. 9
‘‘(2) P
UBLICATION.—Not later than 30 days 10
after the Director of the Office of Science and Tech-11
nology Policy approves the scientific integrity policy 12
under paragraph (1), the head of each covered agen-13
cy shall— 14
‘‘(A) make such policy available to the 15
public on the website of the agency; and 16
‘‘(B) submit such policy to the relevant 17
Committees of Congress. 18
‘‘(b) R
EQUIREMENTS.—A scientific integrity policy 19
under subsection (a)— 20
‘‘(1) shall prohibit any covered individual 21
from— 22
‘‘(A) engaging in dishonesty, fraud, deceit, 23
misrepresentation, coercive manipulation, or 24
other scientific or research misconduct; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1106.IH H1106
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•HR 1106 IH
‘‘(B) suppressing, altering, interfering 1
with, delaying without scientific merit, or other-2
wise impeding the release and communication 3
of, scientific or technical findings; 4
‘‘(C) intimidating or coercing an individual 5
to alter or censor, attempting to intimidate or 6
coerce an individual to alter or censor, or retali-7
ating against an individual for failure to alter 8
or censor, scientific or technical findings; or 9
‘‘(D) implementing an institutional barrier 10
to cooperation with scientists outside the cov-11
ered agency and the timely communication of 12
scientific or technical findings; 13
‘‘(2) shall allow a covered individual to— 14
‘‘(A) disseminate scientific or technical 15
findings, subject to existing law, by— 16
‘‘(i) participating in scientific con-17
ferences; and 18
‘‘(ii) seeking publication in online and 19
print publications through peer-reviewed, 20
professional, or scholarly journals; 21
‘‘(B) sit on scientific advisory or governing 22
boards; 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1106.IH H1106
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
•HR 1106 IH
‘‘(C) join or hold leadership positions on 1
scientific councils, societies, unions, and other 2
professional organizations; 3
‘‘(D) contribute to the academic peer-re-4
view process as reviewers or editors; and 5
‘‘(E) participate and engage with the sci-6
entific community; 7
‘‘(3) may require a covered individual to, before 8
disseminating scientific or technical findings as de-9
scribed in paragraph (2)(A), submit such findings to 10
the agency for the purpose of review by the agency 11
of the data and findings for technical accuracy if the 12
scientific integrity policy outlines a clear and con-13
sistent process for such review; and 14
‘‘(4) shall require that— 15
‘‘(A) scientific conclusions are not made 16
based on political considerations; 17
‘‘(B) the selection and retention of can-18
didates for science and technology positions in 19
the covered agency are based primarily on the 20
candidate’s expertise, scientific credentials, ex-21
perience, and integrity; 22
‘‘(C) personnel actions regarding covered 23
individuals, except for political appointees, are 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1106.IH H1106
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7
•HR 1106 IH
not taken on the basis of political consideration 1
or ideology; 2
‘‘(D) covered individuals adhere to the 3
highest ethical and professional standards in 4
conducting their research and disseminating 5
their findings; 6
‘‘(E) the appropriate rules, procedures, 7
and safeguards are in place to ensure the integ-8
rity of the scientific process within the covered 9
agency; 10
‘‘(F) scientific or technological information 11
considered in policy decisions is subject to well- 12
established scientific processes, including peer 13
review where appropriate; 14
‘‘(G) procedures, including procedures with 15
respect to applicable whistleblower protections, 16
are in place as are necessary to ensure the in-17
tegrity of scientific and technological informa-18
tion and processes on which the covered agency 19
relies in its decisionmaking or otherwise uses; 20
and 21
‘‘(H) enforcement of such policy is con-22
sistent with the processes for an administrative 23
hearing and an administrative appeal. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1106.IH H1106
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8
•HR 1106 IH
‘‘(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—In carrying out subsection 1
(a), the head of each covered agency shall— 2
‘‘(1) design the scientific integrity policy to 3
apply with respect to the covered agency; 4
‘‘(2) ensure that such policy is clear with re-5
spect to what activities are permitted and what ac-6
tivities are not permitted; 7
‘‘(3) ensure that there is a process for individ-8
uals not employed or contracted by the agency, in-9
cluding grantees, collaborators, partners, and volun-10
teers, to report violations of the scientific integrity 11
policy; 12
‘‘(4) enforce such policy uniformly throughout 13
the covered agency; and 14
‘‘(5) make such policy available to the public, 15
employees, private contractors, and grantees of the 16
covered agency. 17
‘‘(d) S
CIENTIFICINTEGRITYOFFICER.—Not later 18
than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, each 19
covered agency shall appoint a Scientific Integrity Officer, 20
who shall— 21
‘‘(1) be a career employee at the covered agency 22
in a professional position; 23
‘‘(2) have technical knowledge and expertise in 24
conducting and overseeing scientific research; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1106.IH H1106
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9
•HR 1106 IH
‘‘(3) direct the activities and duties described in 1
subsections (e), (f), and (g); and 2
‘‘(4) work closely with the inspector general of 3
the covered agency, as appropriate. 4
‘‘(e) A
DMINISTRATIVEPROCESS AND TRAINING.— 5
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 6
this Act, the head of each covered agency shall establish— 7
‘‘(1) an administrative process and administra-8
tive appeal process for dispute resolution consistent 9
with the scientific integrity policy of the covered 10
agency adopted under subsection (a); and 11
‘‘(2) a training program to provide— 12
‘‘(A) regular scientific integrity and ethics 13
training to employees and contractors of the 14
covered agency; 15
‘‘(B) new covered employees with training 16
within 1 month of commencing employment; 17
‘‘(C) information to ensure that covered in-18
dividuals are fully aware of their rights and re-19
sponsibilities regarding the conduct of scientific 20
research, publication of scientific research, and 21
communication with the media and the public 22
regarding scientific research; and 23
‘‘(D) information to ensure that covered 24
individuals are fully aware of their rights and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1106.IH H1106
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10
•HR 1106 IH
responsibilities for administrative hearings and 1
appeals established in the covered agency’s sci-2
entific integrity policy. 3
‘‘(f) R
EPORTING.— 4
‘‘(1) A
NNUAL REPORT.—Each year, each Sci-5
entific Integrity Officer appointed by a covered agen-6
cy under subsection (d) shall post an annual report 7
on the public website of the covered agency that in-8
cludes, for the year covered by the report— 9
‘‘(A) the number of complaints of mis-10
conduct with respect to the scientific integrity 11
policy adopted under subsection (a)— 12
‘‘(i) filed for administrative redress; 13
‘‘(ii) petitioned for administrative ap-14
peal; and 15
‘‘(iii) still pending from years prior to 16
the year covered by the report, if any; 17
‘‘(B) an anonymized summary of each such 18
complaint and the results of each such com-19
plaint; and 20
‘‘(C) any changes made to the scientific in-21
tegrity policy. 22
‘‘(2) I
NCIDENT REPORT.— 23
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 30 24
days after the date on which an incident de-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1106.IH H1106
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11
•HR 1106 IH
scribed in subparagraph (B) occurs, the head of 1
a covered agency shall submit a report describ-2
ing the incident to the Office of Science and 3
Technology Policy and the relevant Committees 4
of Congress. 5
‘‘(B) I
NCIDENT.—An incident described 6
under this paragraph is an incident in which an 7
individual, acting outside the channels estab-8
lished under subsection (e), overrules the deci-9
sion of the Scientific Integrity Officer with re-10
spect to a dispute regarding a violation of the 11
scientific integrity policy. 12
‘‘(g) O
FFICE OFSCIENCE ANDTECHNOLOGYPOL-13
ICY.—The Director of the Office of Science and Tech-14
nology Policy shall— 15
‘‘(1) collate, organize, and publicly share all in-16
formation it receives under subsection (g) in 1 place 17
on its own website; and 18
‘‘(2) on an annual basis, convene the Scientific 19
Integrity Officer of each covered agency appointed 20
under subsection (d) to discuss best practices for im-21
plementing the requirements of this section. 22
‘‘(h) P
ERIODICREVIEW ANDAPPROVAL.— 23
‘‘(1) I
NTERNAL REVIEW .—The head of each 24
covered agency shall periodically conduct a review of 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1106.IH H1106
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 12
•HR 1106 IH
the scientific integrity policy and change such policy 1
as appropriate. 2
‘‘(2) R
EVIEW BY THE OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND 3
TECHNOLOGY POLICY .— 4
‘‘(A) R
EVIEW OF SUBSTANTIAL UP -5
DATES.—The head of each covered agency shall 6
submit to the Office of Science and Technology 7
Policy for approval any substantial changes to 8
the scientific integrity policy. 9
‘‘(B) Q
UINQUENNIAL REVIEW .—Not later 10
than 5 years after the date of the enactment of 11
the Scientific Integrity Act, and quinquennially 12
thereafter, the head of each covered agency 13
shall submit the scientific integrity policy to the 14
Office of Science and Technology Policy for re-15
view and approval. 16
‘‘(i) C
OMPTROLLER GENERALREVIEW.—Not later 17
than 2 years after the date of the enactment of the Sci-18
entific Integrity Act, the Comptroller General of the 19
United States shall conduct a review of the implementa-20
tion of the scientific integrity policy by each covered agen-21
cy. 22
‘‘(j) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1106.IH H1106
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 13
•HR 1106 IH
‘‘(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘agency’ has the 1
meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, 2
United States Code. 3
‘‘(2) C
OVERED AGENCY .—The term ‘covered 4
agency’ means an agency that funds, conducts, or 5
oversees scientific research. 6
‘‘(3) C
OVERED INDIVIDUAL .—The term ‘cov-7
ered individual’ means a Federal employee or con-8
tractor who— 9
‘‘(A) is engaged in, supervises, or manages 10
scientific activities; 11
‘‘(B) analyzes or publicly communicates in-12
formation resulting from scientific activities; or 13
‘‘(C) uses scientific information or analyses 14
in making bureau, office, or agency policy, man-15
agement, or regulatory decisions. 16
‘‘(4) R
ELEVANT COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS .— 17
The term ‘relevant Committees of Congress’ 18
means— 19
‘‘(A) the Committee on Commerce, 20
Science, and Transportation of the Senate; and 21
‘‘(B) the Committee on Science, Space, 22
and Technology of the House of Representa-23
tives.’’. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1106.IH H1106
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 14
•HR 1106 IH
SEC. 4. EXISTING POLICIES; CLARIFICATION. 1
(a) E
XISTINGSCIENTIFICINTEGRITYPOLICIES.— 2
Notwithstanding the amendments made by this Act, a cov-3
ered agency’s scientific integrity policy that was in effect 4
on the day before the date of enactment of this Act may 5
satisfy the requirements under the amendments made by 6
this Act if the head of the covered agency— 7
(1) makes a written determination that the pol-8
icy satisfies such requirements; and 9
(2) submits the written determination and the 10
policy to the Director of the Office of Science and 11
Technology Policy for review and approval. 12
(b) C
LARIFICATION.—Nothing in this Act shall affect 13
the application of United States copyright law. 14
(c) C
OVEREDAGENCYDEFINED.—The term ‘‘cov-15
ered agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 16
1009 of the America COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 6620). 17
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1106.IH H1106
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB