H. B. 4312


(By Delegate Walters (By Request))
[Introduced February 5, 2004 ; 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 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.

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 resulting from state funded studies, in whole or in part, that are used as rationale or justification for the development of state law or legislative rules or as the basis for any state enforcement action. Any legislative rules proposed in accordance with the results of any purported scientific studies or data derived therefrom, must be justified by pertinent, ascertainable, and peer-reviewed science.
§4-9-3. State responsibilities.
Any scientific documentation, statistics, reports or research which purports to support a proposed legislative rule or proposed statutory change, amendment or addition, policy statement, official report, legislative study, or any other official pronouncement which might lead directly to the adoption of new legislative rules or statutory enactments, shall be made available to the public upon request therefor made under the provisions of 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.