H. B. 2535
(By Delegate Walters)
[Introduced February 21, 2005; referred to the
Committee on Education then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §4-9-1, §4-9-2 and
§4-9-3, all relating to creation of the Verifiable Science
Act; and providing for access by the public to any purported
scientific data or other information used as the basis for
proposed legislative rules or statutory enactments.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §4-9-1, §4-9-2 and
§4-9-3, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9. VERIFIABLE SCIENCE ACT.
§4-9-1. Short title.
This article is hereby designated as the "Verifiable Science
Act."
§4-9-2. Declaration of purpose.
The Legislature hereby declares that the citizens of this
state have a right to access data and other information resulting from state funded studies, either in whole or in part, that are
relied on as justification for the development of state law,
legislative rules or as the basis for any state enforcement action.
Any legislative rules proposed in reliance on the results of any
purported scientific studies or data derived therefrom, must be
justified by pertinent, ascertainable, and peer-reviewed science
which shall be made available to the public upon request.
§4-9-3. State responsibilities.
Any scientific documentation, statistics, reports or research
relied upon to support a proposed legislative rule or proposed
statutory change, amendment or addition, policy statement, official
report, legislative study, or any other official action leading
directly to the adoption of new legislative rules or statutory
enactments, shall be made available to the public upon request as
provided by article one, chapter twenty-nine-b of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that the public
may request and shall receive, access under the state freedom of
information act to any purported scientific data used as the basis
for proposed legislative rules or statutory enactments.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.