Religious Liberty Protection Act of 2000

Summary: Amends the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 to end its applicability to the States and to make it applicable only to the Federal Government, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and U.S. territories and possessions. Redefines (as used in such Act and defines for the purposes of this Act) exercise of religion to mean any exercise of religion, whether or not compelled by or central to a system of religious belief, including: (1) the use, building, or converting of real property for religious exercise; and (2) any conduct protected as a religious exercise under the first amendment to the Constitution.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Religious Liberty Protection Act of 
2000''.

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) Limitation.--This Act does not apply if the only basis for 
applying the Act is subsection (a)(2) and if the government 
demonstrates that all similar religious exercise and all substantial 
burdens on, or the removal of all substantial burdens from, similar 
religious exercise would not lead in the aggregate to a substantial 
effect on commerce or on activities having a substantial relation to 
commerce.
    (d) 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. Nothing 
in this subsection shall be construed to deny, impair, or otherwise 
affect any right or authority of the Attorney General, the United 
States, or any agency, officer, or employee of the United States, under 
law other than this subsection, including section 4(d), 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, except that the claimant shall bear the burden of persuasion on 
whether the law (including a regulation) or government practice that is 
challenged by the claim burdens or substantially burdens the claimant's 
exercise of religion.
    (b) Land Use Regulation.--
            (1) Limitation on land use regulation.--
                    (A) Individualized assessments.--If, in applying or 
                implementing any land use regulation (including an 
                exemption), or system of land use regulations 
                (including 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 the religious 
                exercise of a religious assembly or institution, or of 
                a person in the person's home, unless the government 
                demonstrates that application of the burden to that 
                assembly, institution, or person--
                            (i) is in furtherance of a compelling 
                        governmental interest; and
                            (ii) is narrowly tailored to further that 
                        compelling governmental interest.
                    (B) Equal terms.--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) Nondiscrimination.--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) Exclusions and limits.--No government with 
                zoning authority shall unreasonably exclude from the 
                jurisdiction over which that government 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 
        2000,'' 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 bring an action for injunctive or declaratory relief to 
enforce compliance with this Act.
    (e) Sovereign Immunity.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to 
abrogate the sovereign immunity of a State.

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 or practice that results in a 
substantial burden on religious exercise, by retaining the policy or 
practice and exempting the substantially burdened religious exercise, 
by providing exemptions from the policy or practice for applications 
that substantially burden religious exercise, or by any other means 
that eliminates the substantial burden.
    (f) Effect on Other Law.--With respect to a claim brought to 
enforce section 2(a)(2), 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 law 
other than this Act.
    (g) Broad Construction.--This Act shall be construed in favor of a 
broad protection of religious exercise, to the maximum extent permitted 
by the terms of this Act 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 ``religious exercise, as defined in section 8 of the 
        Religious Liberty Protection Act of 2000.''.
    (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.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``demonstrates'' means meets the burdens of 
        going forward with the evidence and of persuasion;
            (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 ``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, subdivision, or official of 
                the United States, and any person acting under color of 
                Federal law;
            (4) the term ``land use regulation'' means a law or 
        decision by a government that limits or restricts a private 
        person's use or development of land (including a structure 
        affixed to land), if--
                    (A) the law or decision applies to 1 or more 
                particular parcels of land or to land within 1 or more 
                designated geographical zones; and
                    (B) 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;
            (5) 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); and
            (6) the term ``religious exercise''--
                    (A) means any exercise of religion, whether or not 
                compelled by, or central to, a system of religious 
                belief; and
                    (B) includes--
                            (i) the use, building, or conversion of 
                        real property by a person or entity intending 
                        that property to be used for religious 
                        exercise; and
                            (ii) any conduct protected as exercise of 
                        religion under the first amendment to the 
                        Constitution.