I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2128

To prohibit discrimination and preferential treatment on the basis of race,

color, national origin, or sex with respect to Federal employment, contracts, and programs, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 27, 1995

Mr. CANADY of Florida (for himself, Mr. HYDE, Ms. MOLINARI, Mrs. FOWLER, Mr. WICKER, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. HOKE, Mr. SMITH of

Texas, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr. COBLE, Mr. HEINEMAN,

Mr. BRYANT of Tennessee, Mr. BONO, Mr. BARR, Mr. ROHRABACHER,

Mr. ISTOOK, Mr. HERGER, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. CALLAHAN, Mr.

CUNNINGHAM, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr. JONES, Mr.

KING, Mr. LIGHTFOOT, Mr. PACKARD, Mr. PAXON, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr.

ROTH, Mr. STUMP, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr.

DREIER, Mr. EMERSON, Mr. SCHAEFER, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr.

GOSS, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr. COMBEST, Mr. MICA, Mr.

SCARBOROUGH, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. STOCKMAN, Mr. WALKER, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. EVERETT, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky,

Mrs. VUCANOVICH, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. SOLOMON, Mrs. SEASTRAND, Mr.

BILIRAKIS, Mr. CHRISTENSEN, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. HASTERT, Mr.

LARGENT, Mr. BUNNING of Kentucky, Mr. CLINGER, Mr. KOLBE, Mr.

HANCOCK, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr.

RADANOVICH, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska,

Mr. BASS, Mr. DORNAN Mr. SALMON, and Mr. BALLENGER) introduced

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary,

and in addition to the Committees on Economic and Educational Opportunities, Government Reform and Oversight, and House Oversight, for a

period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To prohibit discrimination and preferential treatment on the
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basis of race, color, national origin, or sex with respect

to Federal employment, contracts, and programs, 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 ‘‘Equal Opportunity Act

5 of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION AGAINST DISCRIMINATION AND

7 PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT.

8 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, neither

9 the Federal Government nor any officer, employee, or de10 partment or agency of the Federal Government—

11 (1) may intentionally discriminate against, or

12 may grant a preference to, any individual or group

13 based in whole or in part on race, color, national ori14 gin, or sex, in connection with—

15 (A) a Federal contract or subcontract;

16 (B) Federal employment; or

17 (C) any other federally conducted program

18 or activity;

19 (2) may require or encourage any Federal con20 tractor or subcontractor to intentionally discriminate

21 against, or grant a preference to, any individual or

22 group based in whole or in part on race, color, na23 tional origin, or sex; or
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1 (3) may enter into a consent decree that re2 quires, authorizes, or permits any activity prohibited

3 by paragraph (1) or (2).

4 SEC. 3. RECRUITMENT AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF BIDS.

5 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit or

6 limit any effort by the Federal Government or any officer,

7 employee, or department or agency of the Federal Govern8 ment—

9 (1) to recruit qualified women or qualified mi10 norities into an applicant pool for Federal employ11 ment or to encourage businesses owned by women or

12 by minorities to bid for Federal contracts or sub13 contracts, if such recruitment or encouragement

14 does not involve using a numerical objective, or oth15 erwise granting a preference, based in whole or in

16 part on race, color, national origin, or sex, in select17 ing any individual or group for the relevant employ18 ment, contract or subcontract, benefit, opportunity,

19 or program; or

20 (2) to require or encourage any Federal con21 tractor or subcontractor to recruit qualified women

22 or qualified minorities into an applicant pool for em23 ployment or to encourage businesses owned by

24 women or by minorities to bid for Federal contracts

25 or subcontracts, if such requirement or encourage
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1 ment does not involve using a numerical objective,

2 or otherwise granting a preference, based in whole

3 or in part on race, color, national origin, or sex, in

4 selecting any individual or group for the relevant

5 employment, contract or subcontract, benefit, oppor6 tunity, or program.

7 SEC. 4. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.

8 (a) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVER9 SITIES.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit

10 or limit any act that is designed to benefit an institution

11 that is a historically Black college or university on the

12 basis that the institution is a historically Black college or

13 university.

14 (b) INDIAN TRIBES.—Nothing in this Act shall be

15 construed to prohibit or limit any action taken—

16 (1) pursuant to a law enacted under the con17 stitutional powers of Congress relating to the Indian

18 tribes; or

19 (2) under a treaty between an Indian tribe and

20 the United States.

21 (c) BONA FIDE OCCUPATIONAL QUALIFICATION,

22 PRIVACY, AND NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS.—Noth23 ing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit or limit any

24 classification based on sex if—
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1 (1) sex is a bona fide occupational qualification

2 reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the

3 Federal Government entity or Federal contractor or

4 subcontractor involved;

5 (2) the classification is designed to protect the

6 privacy of individuals; or

7 (3)(A) the occupancy of the position for which

8 the classification is made, or access to the premises

9 in or on which any part of the duties of such posi10 tion is performed or is to be performed, is subject

11 to any requirement imposed in the interest of the

12 national security of the United States under any se13 curity program in effect pursuant to or administered

14 under any Act or any Executive order of the Presi15 dent; or

16 (B) the classification is applied with respect to

17 a member of the Armed Forces serving on active

18 duty in a theatre of combat operations (as deter19 mined by the Secretary of Defense).

20 SEC. 5. COMPLIANCE REVIEW OF POLICIES AND REGULA21 TIONS.

22 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment

23 of this Act, the head of each department or agency of the

24 Federal Government, in consultation with the Attorney

25 General, shall review all existing policies and regulations
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1 that such department or agency head is charged with ad2 ministering, modify such policies and regulations to con3 form to the requirements of this Act, and report to the

4 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representa5 tives and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate

6 the results of the review and any modifications to the poli7 cies and regulations.

8 SEC. 6. REMEDIES.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—In any action involving a violation

10 of this Act, a court may award only injunctive or equitable

11 relief (including but not limited to back pay), a reasonable

12 attorney’s fee, and costs.

13 (b) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section shall be

14 construed to affect any remedy available under any other

15 law.

16 SEC. 7. EFFECT ON PENDING MATTERS.

17 (a) PENDING CASES.—This Act shall not affect any

18 case pending on the date of enactment of this Act.

19 (b) PENDING CONTRACTS, SUBCONTRACTS, AND

20 CONSENT DECREES.—This Act shall not affect any con21 tract, subcontract, or consent decree in effect on the date

22 of enactment of this Act, including any option exercised

23 under such contract or subcontract before or after such

24 date of enactment.
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1 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

2 As used in this Act:

3 (1) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘Fed4 eral Government’’ means the executive and legisla5 tive branches of the Government of the United

6 States.

7 (2) GRANT A PREFERENCE.—The term ‘‘grant

8 a preference’’ means use of any preferential treat9 ment and includes but is not limited to any use of

10 a quota, set-aside, numerical goal, timetable, or

11 other numerical objective.

12 (3) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNI13 VERSITY.—The term ‘‘historically Black college or

14 university’’ means a part B institution, as defined in

15 section 322(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965

16 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)).

Æ