II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 811 

To ensure that organizations with religious or moral convictions are allowed 

to continue to provide services for children. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 4, 2017 

Mr. ENZI (for himself, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. LEE, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. RISCH, 

Mr. INHOFE, Mr. COTTON, Mr. RUBIO, and Mr. SASSE) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To ensure that organizations with religious or moral convictions are allowed to continue to provide services for children. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Welfare Provider 

5 Inclusion Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Child welfare service providers, both individ9 uals and organizations, have the inherent, fundaVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:33 Apr 08, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S811.IS S811

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1 mental, and inalienable right to free exercise of reli2 gion protected by the United States Constitution. 

3 (2) The right to free exercise of religion for 

4 child welfare service providers includes the freedom 

5 to refrain from conduct that conflicts with their sin6 cerely held religious beliefs. 

7 (3) Most States provide government-funded 

8 child welfare services through various charitable, re9 ligious, and private organizations. 

10 (4) Religious organizations, in particular, have 

11 a lengthy and distinguished history of providing 

12 child welfare services that predates government in13 volvement. 

14 (5) Religious organizations have long been and 

15 should continue contracting with and receiving 

16 grants from governmental entities to provide child 

17 welfare services. 

18 (6) Religious organizations cannot provide cer19 tain child welfare services, such as foster-care or 

20 adoption placements, without receiving a government 

21 contract, grant or license. 

22 (7) Religious organizations display particular 

23 excellence when providing child welfare services. 


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1 (8) Children and families benefit greatly from 

2 the child welfare services provided by religious orga3 nizations. 

4 (9) Governmental entities and officials admin5 istering federally funded child welfare services in 

6 some States, including Massachusetts, California, Il7 linois, and the District of Columbia, have refused to 

8 contract with religious organizations that are unable, 

9 due to sincerely held religious beliefs or moral con10 victions, to provide a child welfare service that con11 flicts, or under circumstances that conflict, with 

12 those beliefs or convictions; and that refusal has 

13 forced many religious organizations to end their long 

14 and distinguished history of excellence in the provi15 sion of child welfare services. 

16 (10) Ensuring that religious organizations can 

17 continue to provide child welfare services will benefit 

18 the children and families that receive those federally 

19 funded services. 

20 (11) States also provide government-funded 

21 child welfare services through individual child wel22 fare service providers with varying religious and 

23 moral convictions. 

24 (12) Many individual child welfare service pro25 viders maintain sincerely held religious beliefs or 


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1 moral convictions that relate to their work and 

2 should not be forced to choose between their liveli3 hood and adherence to those beliefs or convictions. 

4 (13) Because governmental entities provide 

5 child welfare services through many charitable, reli6 gious, and private organizations, each with varying 

7 religious beliefs or moral convictions, and through 

8 diverse individuals with varying religious beliefs or 

9 moral convictions, the religiously impelled inability 

10 of some religious organizations or individuals to pro11 vide certain services will not have a material effect 

12 on a person’s ability to access federally funded child 

13 welfare services. 

14 (14) The activities of funding and admin15 istering these child welfare services substantially af16 fect interstate commerce. 

17 (15) Taking adverse actions against child wel18 fare service providers that are unable, due to their 

19 sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions, 

20 to provide certain services (or provide services under 

21 certain circumstances) substantially affects inter22 state commerce. 

23 (16) The provisions of this Act are remedial 

24 measures that are congruent and proportional to 

25 protecting the constitutional rights of child welfare 


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1 service providers guaranteed under the Fourteenth 

2 Amendment to the United States Constitution. 

3 (17) Congress has the authority to pass this 

4 Act pursuant to its spending clause power, com5 merce clause power, and enforcement power under 

6 section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the 

7 United States Constitution. 

8 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol9 lows: 

10 (1) To prohibit governmental entities from dis11 criminating or taking an adverse action against a 

12 child welfare service provider on the basis that the 

13 provider declines to provide a child welfare service 

14 that conflicts, or under circumstances that conflict, 

15 with the sincerely held religious beliefs or moral con16 victions of the provider. 

17 (2) To protect child welfare service providers’ 

18 exercise of religion and to ensure that governmental 

19 entities will not be able to force those providers, ei20 ther directly or indirectly, to discontinue all or some 

21 of their child welfare services because they decline to 

22 provide a child welfare service that conflicts, or 

23 under circumstances that conflict, with their sin24 cerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions. 


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1 (3) To provide relief to child welfare service 

2 providers whose rights have been violated. 

3 SEC. 3. DISCRIMINATION AND ADVERSE ACTIONS PROHIB4 ITED. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Government, and 

6 any State that receives Federal funding for any program 

7 that provides child welfare services under part B or E of 

8 title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq., 

9 671 et seq.) (and any subdivision, office or department 

10 of such State) shall not discriminate or take an adverse 

11 action against a child welfare service provider on the basis 

12 that the provider has declined or will decline to provide, 

13 facilitate, or refer for a child welfare service that conflicts 

14 with, or under circumstances that conflict with, the pro15 vider’s sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions. 

16 (b) LIMITATION.—Subsection (a) does not apply to 

17 conduct forbidden by paragraph (18) of section 471(a) of 

18 such Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)(18)). 

19 SEC. 4. FUNDS WITHHELD FOR VIOLATION. 

20 The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 

21 withhold from a State 15 percent of the Federal funds 

22 the State receives for a program that provides child wel23 fare services under part B or E of title IV of the Social 

24 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq., 671 et seq.) if the 


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1 State violates section 3 when administering or disbursing 

2 funds under such program. 

3 SEC. 5. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—A child welfare service provider 

5 aggrieved by a violation of section 3 may assert that viola6 tion as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding and 

7 obtain all appropriate relief, including declaratory relief, 

8 injunctive relief, and compensatory damages, with respect 

9 to that violation. 

10 (b) ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND COSTS.—A child welfare 

11 service provider that prevails in an action by establishing 

12 a violation of section 3 is entitled to recover reasonable 

13 attorneys’ fees and costs. 

14 (c) WAIVER OF SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY.—By accept15 ing or expending Federal funds in connection with a pro16 gram that provides child welfare services under part B or 

17 E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 

18 et seq., 671 et seq.), a State waives its sovereign immunity 

19 for any claim or defense that is raised under this section. 

20 SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY. 

21 If any provision of this Act, or any application of such 

22 provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be un23 constitutional, the remainder of this Act and the applica24 tion of the provision to any other person or circumstance 

25 shall not be affected. 


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1 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

3 (b), the amendments made by this Act shall take effect 

4 on the 1st day of the 1st fiscal year beginning on or after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act, and the withholding 

6 of funds authorized by section 4 shall apply to payments 

7 under parts B and E of title IV of the Social Security 

8 Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq., 671 et seq.) for calendar quar9 ters beginning on or after such date. 

10 (b) EXCEPTION.—If legislation (other than legisla11 tion appropriating funds) is required for a governmental 

12 entity to bring itself into compliance with this Act, the 

13 governmental entity shall not be regarded as violating this 

14 Act before the 1st day of the 1st calendar quarter begin15 ning after the first regular session of the legislative body 

16 that begins after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

17 For purposes of the preceding sentence, if the govern18 mental entity has a 2-year legislative session, each year 

19 of the session is deemed to be a separate regular session. 

20 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) CHILD WELFARE SERVICE PROVIDER.—The 

23 term ‘‘child welfare service provider’’ includes orga24 nizations, corporations, groups, entities, or individ25 uals that provide or seek to provide, or that apply 

26 for or receive a contract, subcontract, grant, or 


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1 subgrant for the provision of, child welfare services. 

2 A provider need not be engaged exclusively in child 

3 welfare services to be considered a child welfare 

4 service provider for purposes of this Act. 

5 (2) CHILD WELFARE SERVICES.—The term 

6 ‘‘child welfare services’’ means social services pro7 vided to or on behalf of children, including assisting 

8 abused, neglected, or troubled children, counseling 

9 children or parents, promoting foster parenting, pro10 viding foster homes or temporary group shelters for 

11 children, recruiting foster parents, placing children 

12 in foster homes, licensing foster homes, promoting 

13 adoption, recruiting adoptive parents, assisting 

14 adoptions, supporting adoptive families, assisting 

15 kinship guardianships, assisting kinship caregivers, 

16 providing family preservation services, providing 

17 family support services, and providing time-limited 

18 family reunification services. 

19 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes each of 

20 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, any com21 monwealth, territory or possession of the United 

22 States, and any political subdivision thereof, and any 

23 Indian tribe, tribal organization, or tribal consortium 

24 that has a plan approved in accordance with section 

25 479B of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 679c) or 


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1 that has a cooperative agreement or contract with 

2 one of the 50 States for the administration or pay3 ment of funds under part B or E of title IV of the 

4 Social Security Act. 

5 (4) FUNDING; FUNDED; FUNDS.—The terms 

6 ‘‘funding’’, ‘‘funded’’, or ‘‘funds’’ include money paid 

7 pursuant to a contract, grant, voucher, or similar 

8 means. 

9 (5) ADVERSE ACTION.—The term ‘‘adverse ac10 tion’’ includes, but is not limited to, denying a child 

11 welfare service provider’s application for funding, re12 fusing to renew the provider’s funding, canceling the 

13 provider’s funding, declining to enter into a contract 

14 with the provider, refusing to renew a contract with 

15 the provider, canceling a contract with the provider, 

16 declining to issue a license to the provider, refusing 

17 to renew the provider’s license, canceling the pro18 vider’s license, terminating the provider’s employ19 ment, or any other adverse action that materially al20 ters the terms or conditions of the provider’s em21 ployment, funding, contract, or license. 

Æ 


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