I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4862

To protect religious liberty, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 13, 2000

Mr. CANADY of Florida (for himself, Mr. NADLER, and Mr. EDWARDS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To protect religious liberty, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Religious Land Use

5 and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF LAND USE AS RELIGIOUS EXER7 CISE.

8 (a) SUBSTANTIAL BURDENS.—

9 (1) GENERAL RULE.—No government shall im10 pose or implement a land use regulation in a manner

11 that imposes a substantial burden on the religious
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1 exercise of a person, including a religious assembly

2 or institution, unless the government demonstrates

3 that imposition of the burden on that person, assem4 bly, or institution—

5 (A) is in furtherance of a compelling gov6 ernmental interest; and

7 (B) is the least restrictive means of fur8 thering that compelling governmental interest.

9 (2) SCOPE OF APPLICATION.—This subsection

10 applies in any case in which—

11 (A) the substantial burden is imposed in a

12 program or activity that receives Federal finan13 cial assistance, even if the burden results from

14 a rule of general applicability;

15 (B) the substantial burden affects, or re16 moval of that substantial burden would affect,

17 commerce with foreign nations, among the sev18 eral States, or with Indian tribes, even if the

19 burden results from a rule of general applica20 bility; or

21 (C) the substantial burden is imposed in

22 the implementation of a land use regulation or

23 system of land use regulations, under which a

24 government makes, or has in place formal or in25 formal procedures or practices that permit the
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1 government to make, individualized assessments

2 of the proposed uses for the property involved.

3 (b) DISCRIMINATION AND EXCLUSION.—

4 (1) EQUAL TERMS.—No government shall im5 pose or implement a land use regulation in a manner

6 that treats a religious assembly or institution on less

7 than equal terms with a nonreligious assembly or in8 stitution.

9 (2) NONDISCRIMINATION.—No government

10 shall impose or implement a land use regulation that

11 discriminates against any assembly or institution on

12 the basis of religion or religious denomination.

13 (3) EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITS.—No government

14 shall impose or implement a land use regulation

15 that—

16 (A) totally excludes religious assemblies

17 from a jurisdiction; or

18 (B) unreasonably limits religious assem19 blies, institutions, or structures within a juris20 diction.

21 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF RELIGIOUS EXERCISE OF INSTITU22 TIONALIZED PERSONS.

23 (a) GENERAL RULE.—No government shall impose a

24 substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person

25 residing in or confined to an institution, as defined in sec-
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1 tion 2 of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act

2 (42 U.S.C. 1997), even if the burden results from a rule

3 of general applicability, unless the government dem4 onstrates that imposition of the burden on that person—

5 (1) is in furtherance of a compelling govern6 mental interest; and

7 (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering

8 that compelling governmental interest.

9 (b) SCOPE OF APPLICATION.—This section applies in

10 any case in which—

11 (1) the substantial burden is imposed in a pro12 gram or activity that receives Federal financial as13 sistance; or

14 (2) the substantial burden affects, or removal of

15 that substantial burden would affect, commerce with

16 foreign nations, among the several States, or with

17 Indian tribes.

18 SEC. 4. JUDICIAL RELIEF.

19 (a) CAUSE OF ACTION.—A person may assert a viola20 tion of this Act as a claim or defense in a judicial pro21 ceeding and obtain appropriate relief against a govern22 ment. Standing to assert a claim or defense under this

23 section shall be governed by the general rules of standing

24 under article III of the Constitution.
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1 (b) BURDEN OF PERSUASION.—If a plaintiff pro2 duces prima facie evidence to support a claim alleging a

3 violation of the Free Exercise Clause or a violation of sec4 tion 2, the government shall bear the burden of persuasion

5 on any element of the claim, except that the plaintiff shall

6 bear the burden of persuasion on whether the law (includ7 ing a regulation) or government practice that is challenged

8 by the claim substantially burdens the plaintiff’s exercise

9 of religion.

10 (c) FULL FAITH AND CREDIT.—Adjudication of a

11 claim of a violation of section 2 in a non-Federal forum

12 shall not be entitled to full faith and credit in a Federal

13 court unless the claimant had a full and fair adjudication

14 of that claim in the non-Federal forum.

15 (d) ATTORNEYS’ FEES.—Section 722(b) of the Re16 vised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended—

17 (1) by inserting ‘‘the Religious Land Use and

18 Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000,’’ after ‘‘Reli19 gious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993,’’; and

20 (2) by striking the comma that follows a

21 comma.

22 (e) PRISONERS.—Nothing in this Act shall be con23 strued to amend or repeal the Prison Litigation Reform

24 Act of 1995 (including provisions of law amended by that

25 Act).
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1 (f) AUTHORITY OF UNITED STATES TO ENFORCE

2 THIS ACT.—The United States may bring an action for

3 injunctive or declaratory relief to enforce compliance with

4 this Act. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to

5 deny, impair, or otherwise affect any right or authority

6 of the Attorney General, the United States, or any agency,

7 officer, or employee of the United States, acting under any

8 law other than this subsection, to institute or intervene

9 in any proceeding.

10 (g) LIMITATION.—If the only jurisdictional basis for

11 applying a provision of this Act is a claim that a substan12 tial burden by a government on religious exercise affects,

13 or that removal of that substantial burden would affect,

14 commerce with foreign nations, among the several States,

15 or with Indian tribes, the provision shall not apply if the

16 government demonstrates that all substantial burdens on,

17 or the removal of all substantial burdens from, similar reli18 gious exercise throughout the Nation would not lead in

19 the aggregate to a substantial effect on commerce with

20 foreign nations, among the several States, or with Indian

21 tribes.

22 SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.

23 (a) RELIGIOUS BELIEF UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in

24 this Act shall be construed to authorize any government

25 to burden any religious belief.
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1 (b) RELIGIOUS EXERCISE NOT REGULATED.—Noth2 ing in this Act shall create any basis for restricting or

3 burdening religious exercise or for claims against a reli4 gious organization, including any religiously affiliated

5 school or university, not acting under color of law.

6 (c) CLAIMS TO FUNDING UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in

7 this Act shall create or preclude a right of any religious

8 organization to receive funding or other assistance from

9 a government, or of any person to receive government

10 funding for a religious activity, but this Act may require

11 a government to incur expenses in its own operations to

12 avoid imposing a substantial burden on religious exercise.

13 (d) OTHER AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE CONDITIONS ON

14 FUNDING UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in this Act shall—

15 (1) authorize a government to regulate or af16 fect, directly or indirectly, the activities or policies of

17 a person other than a government as a condition of

18 receiving funding or other assistance; or

19 (2) restrict any authority that may exist under

20 other law to so regulate or affect, except as provided

21 in this Act.

22 (e) GOVERNMENTAL DISCRETION IN ALLEVIATING

23 BURDENS ON RELIGIOUS EXERCISE.—A government may

24 avoid the preemptive force of any provision of this Act by

25 changing the policy or practice that results in a substan-
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1 tial burden on religious exercise, by retaining the policy

2 or practice and exempting the substantially burdened reli3 gious exercise, by providing exemptions from the policy or

4 practice for applications that substantially burden reli5 gious exercise, or by any other means that eliminates the

6 substantial burden.

7 (f) EFFECT ON OTHER LAW.—With respect to a

8 claim brought under this Act, proof that a substantial bur9 den on a person’s religious exercise affects, or removal of

10 that burden would affect, commerce with foreign nations,

11 among the several States, or with Indian tribes, shall not

12 establish any inference or presumption that Congress in13 tends that any religious exercise is, or is not, subject to

14 any law other than this Act.

15 (g) BROAD CONSTRUCTION.—This Act shall be con16 strued in favor of a broad protection of religious exercise,

17 to the maximum extent permitted by the terms of this Act

18 and the Constitution.

19 (h) NO PREEMPTION OR REPEAL.—Nothing in this

20 Act shall be construed to preempt State law, or repeal

21 Federal law, that is equally as protective of religious exer22 cise as, or more protective of religious exercise than, this

23 Act.

24 (i) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or

25 of an amendment made by this Act, or any application
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1 of such provision to any person or circumstance, is held

2 to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, the

3 amendments made by this Act, and the application of the

4 provision to any other person or circumstance shall not

5 be affected.

6 SEC. 6. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE UNAFFECTED.

7 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, inter8 pret, or in any way address that portion of the first

9 amendment to the Constitution prohibiting laws respect10 ing an establishment of religion (referred to in this section

11 as the ‘‘Establishment Clause’’). Granting government

12 funding, benefits, or exemptions, to the extent permissible

13 under the Establishment Clause, shall not constitute a vio14 lation of this Act. In this section, the term ‘‘granting’’,

15 used with respect to government funding, benefits, or ex16 emptions, does not include the denial of government fund17 ing, benefits, or exemptions.

18 SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORA19 TION ACT.

20 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 5 of the Religious Free21 dom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb–2) is

22 amended—

23 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘a State, or

24 a subdivision of a State’’ and inserting ‘‘or of a cov25 ered entity’’;
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1 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘term’’ and all

2 that follows through ‘‘includes’’ and inserting ‘‘term

3 ‘covered entity’ means’’; and

4 (3) in paragraph (4), by striking all after

5 ‘‘means’’ and inserting ‘‘religious exercise, as defined

6 in section 8 of the Religious Land Use and Institu7 tionalized Persons Act of 2000.’’.

8 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 6(a) of the

9 Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C.

10 2000bb–3(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘and State’’.

11 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

12 In this Act:

13 (1) CLAIMANT.—The term ‘‘claimant’’ means a

14 person raising a claim or defense under this Act.

15 (2) DEMONSTRATES.—The term ‘‘dem16 onstrates’’ means meets the burdens of going for17 ward with the evidence and of persuasion.

18 (3) FREE EXERCISE CLAUSE.—The term ‘‘Free

19 Exercise Clause’’ means that portion of the first

20 amendment to the Constitution that proscribes laws

21 prohibiting the free exercise of religion.

22 (4) GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘government’’—

23 (A) means—
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1 (i) a State, county, municipality, or

2 other governmental entity created under

3 the authority of a State;

4 (ii) any branch, department, agency,

5 instrumentality, or official of an entity list6 ed in clause (i); and

7 (iii) any other person acting under

8 color of State law; and

9 (B) for the purposes of sections 4(b) and

10 5, includes the United States, a branch, depart11 ment, agency, instrumentality, or official of the

12 United States, and any other person acting

13 under color of Federal law.

14 (5) LAND USE REGULATION.—The term ‘‘land

15 use regulation’’ means a zoning or landmarking law,

16 or the application of such a law, that limits or re17 stricts a claimant’s use or development of land (in18 cluding a structure affixed to land), if the claimant

19 has an ownership, leasehold, easement, servitude, or

20 other property interest in the regulated land or a

21 contract or option to acquire such an interest.

22 (6) PROGRAM OR ACTIVITY.—The term ‘‘pro23 gram or activity’’ means all of the operations of any

24 entity described in paragraph (1) or (2) of section
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1 606 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C.

2 2000d–4a).

3 (7) RELIGIOUS EXERCISE.—

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘religious ex5 ercise’’ includes any exercise of religion, wheth6 er or not compelled by, or central to, a system

7 of religious belief.

8 (B) RULE.—The use, building, or conver9 sion of real property for the purpose of religious

10 exercise shall be considered to be religious exer11 cise of the person or entity that uses or intends

12 to use the property for that purpose.

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