A Role for Science in State, Federal Policymaking

Cynics will tell you politicians rarely let facts get in the way of their policy positions and one doesn’t have to look terribly hard to find anecdotal evidence to support that conclusion. One hopes – expects, even – in most cases, however, that elected officials have people more grounded in reality working for them in the trenches of the state or federal executive branch. Some will be civil servants who have dedicated their careers toward addressing specific public policy issues; others will be politically appointed individuals serving for a portion or all of the term of office for the elected leader. How well facts influence these two groups of public employees varies greatly across individuals and office.
 
The role science can serve to influence or guide the development of policy at the federal level also has varied greatly by administration and economic times. The current economic climate – with the increased importance given to innovation and competitiveness – has many calling for sound science and technology advice being given greater attention through key appointments in the federal and state levels of government.
 
One of these appointed positions - the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, who also heads the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) - could be influential in setting the direction of the nation’s science and competitiveness initiatives in the next administration, regardless of which candidate succeeds in November.
 
The future effectiveness of OSTP is the central topic of the recently released OSTP 2.0 Critical Upgrade - Enhanced Capacity for White House Science and Technology Policymaking: Recommendations for the Next President. Released by the Woodrow Wilson International Center of Scholars in mid-June, the report synthesizes recommendations based on interviews of more than 60 leading science policymakers, including all of the living former presidential science advisors.
 
The resulting advice stemming from those interviews is grouped into 10 major areas such as budgetary concerns, international activities, and partnerships with other federal agencies. Key recommendations include:

• The Assistant to the President for Science and Technology should serve at the Cabinet level;
• OSTP should collaborate with the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to negotiate and advance global policies;
• OSTP should have its own press staff to improve the reporting and understanding of science and technology issues; and,
• OSTP should work with the Economic Policy Council, the Office of Management and Budget, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the National Security Council to coordinate S&T related issues.

In an important nod toward the important role states play in designing and executing national science, technology and innovation goals, the authors recommend creating a new Federal-State Science and Technology Council that would be established and chaired by OSTP. The council would meet semiannually to share concerns and best practices across levels of government.
 
The federal government is not alone in needing stronger science-based advice according to non-governmental organizations inside the Beltway. The National Academies recently turned its attention toward how states would benefit from utilizing science and technology to drive more public policy and investment decisions.
 
State Science and Technology Policy Advice: Issues, Opportunities, and Challenges, presents a synthesis of conversations that took place at a National Academies convocation held in October 2007 on the roles of science and technology in state-level policymaking. The report presents an overview of the partnerships that can assist the development of state policy for various issues.
 
More than 40 states have state academies of science, the report points out, academies which convocation participants felt could serve as potential sources of knowledge to assist decision-making and to build partnerships with the scientific community, in particular. In addition, the report showcases examples of how selected states have utilized sources such as state technology councils, state science advisors, colleges and universities, and state agencies to provide science-based policy advice and determine how state governments should react to federal S&T priorities.
 
Importantly for the tech-based economic development community, economic and innovation related policies at the state level received scant attention at the event. Most of the discussion at the convocation was centered around roles for science-based decisions on important policy decisions affecting natural resource management, energy issues and environmental protection. Despite this strong imbalance, the brief, generalized discussion of recommendations for states to collaborate more with external science and technology organizations and “to establish systems to measure the results of initiatives involving science and technology” was tailored more to TBED issues than other areas of public policy.
 
OSTP 2.0 Critical Upgrade - Enhanced Capacity for White House Science and Technology Policymaking: Recommendations for the Next President can be found at: http://wilsoncenter.org/news/docs/OSTP%20Paper1.pdf
 
State Science and Technology Policy Advice: Issues, Opportunities, and Challenges is available through: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12160