Home > 106th Congressional Bills > H.R. 1691 (rh) To protect religious liberty. [Reported in House] ...H.R. 1691 (rh) To protect religious liberty. [Reported in House] ...
106th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1691
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 16, 1999
Received
November 19, 1999
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judicary
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To protect religious liberty.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Religious Liberty Protection Act of
1999''.
SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF RELIGIOUS EXERCISE.
(a) General Rule.--Except as provided in subsection (b), a
government shall not substantially burden a person's religious
exercise--
(1) in a program or activity, operated by a government,
that receives Federal financial assistance; or
(2) in any case in which the substantial burden on the
person's religious exercise affects, or in which a removal of
that substantial burden would affect, commerce with foreign
nations, among the several States, or with Indian tribes,
even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.
(b) Exception.--A government may substantially burden a person's
religious exercise if the government demonstrates that application of
the burden to the person--
(1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental
interest; and
(2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that
compelling governmental interest.
(c) Remedies of the United States.--Nothing in this section shall
be construed to authorize the United States to deny or withhold Federal
financial assistance as a remedy for a violation of this Act. However,
nothing in this subsection shall be construed to deny, impair, or
otherwise affect any right or authority of the Attorney General or the
United States or any agency, officer, or employee thereof under other
law, including section 4(d) of this Act, to institute or intervene in
any action or proceeding.
SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.
(a) Procedure.--If a claimant produces prima facie evidence to
support a claim alleging a violation of the Free Exercise Clause or a
violation of a provision of this Act enforcing that clause, the
government shall bear the burden of persuasion on any element of the
claim; however, the claimant shall bear the burden of persuasion on
whether the challenged government practice, law, or regulation burdens
or substantially burdens the claimant's exercise of religion.
(b) Land Use Regulation.--
(1) Limitation on land use regulation.--
(A) Where, in applying or implementing any land use
regulation or exemption, or system of land use
regulations or exemptions, a government has the
authority to make individualized assessments of the
proposed uses to which real property would be put, the
government may not impose a substantial burden on a
person's religious exercise, unless the government
demonstrates that application of the burden to the
person is in furtherance of a compelling governmental
interest and is the least restrictive means of
furthering that compelling governmental interest.
(B) No government shall impose or implement a land
use regulation in a manner that does not treat
religious assemblies or institutions on equal terms
with nonreligious assemblies or institutions.
(C) No government shall impose or implement a land
use regulation that discriminates against any assembly
or institution on the basis of religion or religious
denomination.
(D) No government with zoning authority shall
unreasonably exclude from the jurisdiction over which
it has authority, or unreasonably limit within that
jurisdiction, assemblies or institutions principally
devoted to religious exercise.
(2) Full faith and credit.--Adjudication of a claim of a
violation of the Free Exercise Clause or this subsection in a
non-Federal forum shall be entitled to full faith and credit in
a Federal court only if the claimant had a full and fair
adjudication of that claim in the non-Federal forum.
(3) Nonpreemption.--Nothing in this subsection shall
preempt State law that is equally or more protective of
religious exercise.
SEC. 4. JUDICIAL RELIEF.
(a) Cause of Action.--A person may assert a violation of this Act
as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding and obtain appropriate
relief against a government. Standing to assert a claim or defense
under this section shall be governed by the general rules of standing
under article III of the Constitution.
(b) Attorneys' Fees.--Section 722(b) of the Revised Statutes (42
U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended--
(1) by inserting ``the Religious Liberty Protection Act of
1998,'' after ``Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993,'';
and
(2) by striking the comma that follows a comma.
(c) Prisoners.--Any litigation under this Act in which the claimant
is a prisoner shall be subject to the Prison Litigation Reform Act of
1995 (including provisions of law amended by that Act).
(d) Authority of United States To Enforce This Act.--The United
States may sue for injunctive or declaratory relief to enforce
compliance with this Act.
SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.
(a) Religious Belief Unaffected.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to authorize any government to burden any religious belief.
(b) Religious Exercise Not Regulated.--Nothing in this Act shall
create any basis for restricting or burdening religious exercise or for
claims against a religious organization, including any religiously
affiliated school or university, not acting under color of law.
(c) Claims to Funding Unaffected.--Nothing in this Act shall create
or preclude a right of any religious organization to receive funding or
other assistance from a government, or of any person to receive
government funding for a religious activity, but this Act may require
government to incur expenses in its own operations to avoid imposing a
burden or a substantial burden on religious exercise.
(d) Other Authority To Impose Conditions on Funding Unaffected.--
Nothing in this Act shall--
(1) authorize a government to regulate or affect, directly
or indirectly, the activities or policies of a person other
than a government as a condition of receiving funding or other
assistance; or
(2) restrict any authority that may exist under other law
to so regulate or affect, except as provided in this Act.
(e) Governmental Discretion in Alleviating Burdens on Religious
Exercise.--A government may avoid the preemptive force of any provision
of this Act by changing the policy that results in the substantial
burden on religious exercise, by retaining the policy and exempting the
burdened religious exercise, by providing exemptions from the policy
for applications that substantially burden religious exercise, or by
any other means that eliminates the substantial burden.
(f) Effect on Other Law.--In a claim under section 2(a)(2) of this
Act, proof that a substantial burden on a person's religious exercise,
or removal of that burden, affects or would affect commerce, shall not
establish any inference or presumption that Congress intends that any
religious exercise is, or is not, subject to any other law.
(g) Broad Construction.--This Act should be construed in favor of a
broad protection of religious exercise, to the maximum extent permitted
by its terms and the Constitution.
(h) Severability.--If any provision of this Act or of an amendment
made by this Act, or any application of such provision to any person or
circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this
Act, the amendments made by this Act, and the application of the
provision to any other person or circumstance shall not be affected.
SEC. 6. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE UNAFFECTED.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, interpret, or in
any way address that portion of the first amendment to the Constitution
prohibiting laws respecting an establishment of religion (referred to
in this section as the ``Establishment Clause''). Granting government
funding, benefits, or exemptions, to the extent permissible under the
Establishment Clause, shall not constitute a violation of this Act. As
used in this section, the term ``granting'', used with respect to
government funding, benefits, or exemptions, does not include the
denial of government funding, benefits, or exemptions.
SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT.
(a) Definitions.--Section 5 of the Religious Freedom Restoration
Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb-2) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``a State, or subdivision
of a State'' and inserting ``a covered entity or a subdivision
of such an entity'';
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``term'' and all that
follows through ``includes'' and inserting ``term `covered
entity' means''; and
(3) in paragraph (4), by striking all after ``means,'' and
inserting ``any exercise of religion, whether or not compelled
by, or central to, a system of religious belief, and includes
(A) the use, building, or conversion of real property by a
person or entity intending that property for religious
exercise; and (B) any conduct protected as exercise of religion
under the first amendment to the Constitution.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 6(a) of the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb-3(a)) is amended by striking
``and State''.
SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act--
(1) the term ``religious exercise'' means any exercise of
religion, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system
of religious belief, and includes (A) the use, building, or
conversion of real property by a person or entity intending
that property for religious exercise; and (B) any conduct
protected as exercise of religion under the first amendment to
the Constitution;
(2) the term ``Free Exercise Clause'' means that portion of
the first amendment to the Constitution that proscribes laws
prohibiting the free exercise of religion and includes the
application of that proscription under the 14th amendment to
the Constitution;
(3) the term ``land use regulation'' means a law or
decision by a government that limits or restricts a private
person's uses or development of land, or of structures affixed
to land, where the law or decision applies to one or more
particular parcels of land or to land within one or more
designated geographical zones, and where the private person has
an ownership, leasehold, easement, servitude, or other property
interest in the regulated land, or a contract or option to
acquire such an interest;
(4) the term ``program or activity'' means a program or
activity as defined in paragraph (1) or (2) of section 606 of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d-4a);
(5) the term ``demonstrates'' means meets the burdens of
going forward with the evidence and of persuasion; and
(6) the term ``government''--
(A) means--
(i) a State, county, municipality, or other
governmental entity created under the authority
of a State;
(ii) any branch, department, agency,
instrumentality, subdivision, or official of an
entity listed in clause (i); and
(iii) any other person acting under color
of State law; and
(B) for the purposes of sections 3(a) and 5,
includes the United States, a branch, department,
agency, instrumentality or official of the United
States, and any person acting under color of Federal
law.
Passed the House of Representatives July 15, 1999.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.
Pages: 1 Other Popular 106th Congressional Bills Documents:
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