Sponsors (134)
The bill strengthens protections, transparency, and channels for federal scientists to communicate and challenge interference—potentially improving evidence-based policymaking—while imposing new administrative costs, review processes, and centralization risks that could delay releases, expose sensitive information, and create transitional uncertainty.
Federal scientists, federal employees, and agency contractors gain clearer protections to communicate and publish scientific findings and are shielded from political interference in scientific conclusions, preserving researchers' ability to speak, publish, and present at conferences.
Agencies must adopt and publish scientific-integrity policies, appoint Scientific Integrity Officers, and provide whistleblower and formal dispute procedures, improving accountability, transparency, and avenues for remedy when interference occurs.
Policymaking on public health, environment, and national-security-related matters is more likely to be guided by scientific evidence, which can improve the effectiveness of federal, state, and local decisions that affect public safety and welfare.
Agencies and taxpayers will face increased administrative costs and workload to draft, submit, train on, staff, and report on scientific-integrity policies and to create required oversight roles and reports.
Requiring OSTP review and approval of agency policies centralizes control and could introduce new delays or politicization in accepting agency scientific-integrity policies.
Pre-dissemination technical reviews, reporting requirements, and public incident summaries could delay public release of findings and slow timely access to scientific information.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Requires covered federal agencies to adopt OSTP-approved scientific integrity policies that prohibit suppression or distortion of research and protect scientists’ communication and reporting rights.
Introduced February 6, 2025 by Paul Tonko · Last progress February 6, 2025
Requires federal agencies that fund, conduct, or oversee research to adopt agency-level scientific integrity policies that are approved by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Policies must prohibit suppression, alteration, or political distortion of scientific findings, protect scientists’ rights to communicate and engage with peers, set whistleblower and enforcement procedures, and allow pre-existing policies to remain if OSTP approves a written determination. Sets firm timeframes: agency heads must adopt and submit policies for OSTP approval within 90 days of enactment and publish approved policies within 30 days. The law adds specific prohibited and permitted behaviors for agency scientists, allows technical pre-dissemination review when clearly defined, and applies to agencies defined under the America COMPETES Act reference in current law.