I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5145

To amend section 1977A of the Revised Statutes of the United States to

repeal the authority to award punitive damages for violations of title

VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans With Disabilities

Act of 1990, for the purposes of equalizing damages between the Congress and the private sector under these laws.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 30, 1994

Mr. GOODLING (for himself, Mr. FAWELL, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. BOEHNER,

Mr. HOEKSTRA, and Mr. MCKEON), introduced the following bill; which

was referred jointly to the Committees on the Judiciary and Education

and Labor

A BILL

To amend section 1977A of the Revised Statutes of the

United States to repeal the authority to award punitive

damages for violations of title VII of the Civil Rights

Act of 1964 and the Americans With Disabilities Act

of 1990, for the purposes of equalizing damages between

the Congress and the private sector under these laws.

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 ‘‘Equity in Remedies

5 Act of 1994’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 The Congress finds that—

3 (1) Congress should, absent manifest constitu4 tional limitations, place itself under the same laws it

5 imposes on private sector employers, including liabil6 ity for damages,

7 (2) while the Congress has recently undertaken

8 steps to extend coverage under these laws to itself,

9 it has become apparent that the Congress will not

10 allow for recovery for punitive damages, even though

11 private sector employers are subject to such damages

12 under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and

13 the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990,

14 (3) therefore to in fact achieve equal coverage

15 under these laws between the Congress and the pri16 vate sector, it is necessary to amend the Revised

17 Statutes of the United States to eliminate punitive

18 damages authorized for violations of title VII of the

19 Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans With

20 Disabilities Act of 1990, and

21 (4) doing so would also achieve conformity with

22 State and local governments and the Executive

23 Branch which are also not subject to punitive dam24 ages.
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1 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.

2 The purpose of this Act is to eliminate punitive dam3 ages authorized for violations of title VII of the Civil

4 Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans With Disabilities

5 Act of 1990.

6 SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS.

7 Section 1977A of the Revised Statutes of the United

8 States is amended—

9 (1) in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a)

10 by striking ‘‘and punitive’’,

11 (2) in subsection (b)—

12 (A) in the heading of such subsection by

13 striking ‘‘AND PUNITIVE’’,

14 (B) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘, and

15 the amount of punitive damages awarded under

16 this section,’’, and

17 (C) by striking paragraph (1), and redesig18 nating paragraphs (2), (3), and (4) as para19 graphs (1), (2), and (3), respectively, and

20 (3) in subsection (c)—

21 (A) by striking ‘‘or punitive’’, and

22 (B) by striking ‘‘subsection (b)(3)’’ and in23 serting ‘‘subsection (b)(2)’’.
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1 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.

2 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as provided in sub3 section (b), the amendments made by section 4 shall take

4 effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.

5 (b) APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.—The amend6 ments made by section 4 shall apply only to civil actions

7 commenced after the date of the enactment of this Act.

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